Matt Hancock and Kwasi Kwarteng discussed fees with fake firm

Matt Hancock and Kwasi Kwarteng agreed to work for a fake South Korean company for £10,000 a day, footage from a campaign group appears to show.

In a sting operation set up by Led By Donkeys, the ex-health secretary and ex-chancellor discussed rates to advise the sham firm, the Observer reported.

MPs are allowed to have second jobs, and there is no suggestion of parliamentary rule-breaking.

Mr Hancock’s spokesperson said he had acted properly and within the rules.

Mr Kwarteng has been contacted for comment.

Former education secretary Sir Gavin Williamson, 1922 Committee chairman Sir Graham Brady, and former health minister Stephen Hammond also feature in the video released by the group.

The group claims to have contacted 20 MPs, primarily Conservatives, and asked if they would consider sitting on the advisory board of a fictional consultancy firm from April, with duties to include attending six board meetings a year and providing political insight.

Four of the five MPs who agreed to a meeting with the fake company are Tories. Mr Hancock was suspended from the party in November 2022 after he was announced as a contestant in ITV reality programme I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!.

In edited footage, Mr Kwarteng is seen saying he does not need to earn a “king’s ransom”, adding he “wouldn’t do anything less than for about 10,000 dollars a month”, later clarifying he meant pounds sterling.

When told the company was considering a rate of £8,000 to £12,000, he replied: “We’re not a million miles off, yeah, I mean eight to ten thousand a day, that’s fine”.

Mr Hancock is shown suggesting a daily rate of £10,000, and in a separate clip, an hourly rate of “around fifteen hundred”.

His spokesman said: “The accusation appears to be that Matt acted entirely properly and within the rules, which had just been unanimously adopted by Parliament. It’s completely untrue to suggest any wrongdoing and therefore absurd to bring Mr Hancock into this story through the illegal publication of a private conversation.

He added: “All the video shows is Matt acting completely properly. Matt acted within the letter and the spirit of the rules, making it crystal clear from the outset that his parliamentary and constituency duties are his primary responsibility for now.”

Also appearing in the footage, Sir Graham, who is chair of the Tory backbench 1922 Committee, suggests an annual rate of “something like £60,000”, adding “if you think that’s far too cheap, let me know”.

In a statement to the group, he said he had an “exploratory discussion” with someone purporting to be from the firm, adding: “I made it clear that any arrangement would have to be completely transparent and that whilst a Member of Parliament, I would only act within the terms of the Code of Conduct.”

Mr Hammond is briefly seen in the video shared on Saturday, but no footage of that meeting has been published.

Led By Donkeys said Sir Gavin Williamson agreed to a meeting but opted not to take discussions any further, the video claimed.

Both Sir Graham and Mr Hancock have previously announced they are planning to stand down at the next election.

The story comes against the backdrop of a wider discussion about MPs having second jobs in recent years, and calls for reform of the rules after high profile cases involving parliamentarians conducting private business outside of their Commons duties.

Levelling UP Secretary Michael Gove defended MPs’ right to consider taking on outside work, as long it did not interfere with representing their constituents. Speaking to the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme, he said: “The jury here is the constituency.”

But Thangam Debbonaire, Labour’s shadow Commons leader, said MPs caught up in the sting should have the whipped remove, adding it is “shameful at any time but particularly during the cost-of-living crisis”.

Shadow culture secretary Lucy Powell said she was “appalled and sickened” by the revelations.

She told Sky News’ Sophy Ridge On Sunday programme: “Being an MP is absolutely a full-time job, it’s not just a full-time job, it’s a whole lifetime commitment and our constituents need us to be fully focused on that.”

There are no rules banning MPs from holding other sources of employment, and many do. Under the Code of Conduct, MPs cannot lobby for those companies in Parliament.

The Home Office has also previously warned MPs to be “aware of the threat of foreign interference”.

The basic annual salary of an MP will rise to £84,144 a year, from April.

Led By Donkeys began as an anti-Brexit group and has regularly criticised government policy.

The seven-and-a-half minute video was produced with input from journalist Antony Barnett, who has worked for the Observer newspaper and Channel 4.

The BBC has not seen the full footage of the meetings and the MPs appear to have been asked different questions.