Beautiful Virgin Islands

Wednesday, Oct 08, 2025

Fresh criticism of UK MPs for lobbying after free CI trip

Fresh criticism of UK MPs for lobbying after free CI trip

Labour MP Dame Margaret Hodge, a strong advocate for transparency in the British Overseas Territories and a vocal critic of offshore financial centres, has levelled fresh criticism on two Tory MPs who enjoyed a free trip to the Cayman Islands in June, paid for by the local government to the tune of £17,000. Sir Graham Brady and Sir Michael Fallon visited Cayman in June for our constitutional celebrations, which Buzzfeed News described a “lavish junket”.

The two Conservative MPs have said they will support the Cayman government in its fight with the UK over the enforced implementation of beneficial ownership registers. This is a controversial topic in the UK, where Cayman and other offshore financial centres are often accused of facilitating corruption, money laundering, tax evasion and other illicit financial activities resulting from their privacy laws.

In May last year the House of Lords passed the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act in the UK, which mandates that all British Overseas Territories with financial services industries, including Cayman, introduce public registers before 2020 or have them imposed via an order in council.

Financial Services Minister Tara Rivers met with Dame Hodge in November 2017 in an effort to persuade her that Cayman meets international standards and is not involved in money laundering. However, the prominent MP appears to be unconvinced.

She told BuzzFeed News, “The only reason for giving these MPs a free trip was to encourage them to thwart and oppose the will of Parliament, where there is a strong majority in favour of open registers of beneficial ownership.” She added, “There is a simple reason for our wanting this transparency. Transparency is a powerful tool in stopping money laundering and tax evasion. All UK MPs should support this move.”

Brady, who until recently was chair of the powerful 1922 Committee of backbench Tories, and Fallon, the former defence secretary, came to Cayman as part of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for the Cayman Islands, as Cayman marked the 60th anniversary of its first constitution. Brady’s wife travelled with him and the members’ register of interest shows that he claimed £10,459 from the public coffers here, while Fallon’s bill was £6,217.99.

Both politicians said clearly when they were here that they would back Cayman in London. Brady told the local media that it was important to make the case for a sensible balance that protects the rights and the safety of individuals who might be exposed to danger from open registers. He also said the UK government needed to recognise the “great steps forward” Cayman had made, as well as its spirit of engagement.

Dame Hodge, the former chair of the UK Public Accounts Committee, said that most people in the UK would be “shocked that two senior members of Parliament accepted expensive free trips to a British tax haven”.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
×