MP White apologises for breaching conduct code

SHE FAILED TO DECLARE INTEREST WHEN HUSBAND SPOKE AT HEARING

- By OLIVER PRIDMORE

Bassetlaw MP Jo White, who is married to former MP John Mann, now Lord Mann, who is a government adviser on anti-Semitism

AN MP has apologised after an inquiry found she breached the code of conduct by not declaring who her husband was during a hearing in Parliament.

MPs used the December 1 hearing to question officials on the decision to ban supporters of Israeli football side Maccabi Tel Aviv from a Europa League game with Aston Villa.

One of the MPs on the Home Affairs Select Committee is the Labour MP for Bassetlaw, Jo White, and one of those giving evidence at the December 1 hearing was her husband, Lord (John) Mann.

Ms White chose not to declare at the start of the hearing she was married to Lord Mann, deciding instead to get around any perceived conflict of interest by keeping silent during his evidence.

The MP then went on to grill other witnesses during the hearing.

The Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards has now agreed with an assessment that this could have created “the appearance of unequal treatment.”

Ms White has apologised for the “inadvertent error’; but is resisting calls to step back from her role on the select committee.