- The Guardian,
- Thursday August 10 2000
Labour backbencher Chris Leslie has written to Parliamentary Standards Commissioner Elizabeth Filkin, asking her to look into the question of Mr Portillo's outside earnings, The Independent newspaper reported. In the Register of Members' Interests, Mr Portillo lists an unspecified income from "occasional fees for journalism, broadcasting and speaking".
MPs are required to register full details of outside earnings for services linked to their position in Parliament, lodging written employment agreements for any activities such as speaking, TV appearances or newspaper columns which are "frequent" rather than "occasional".
Mr Leslie's complaint to Ms Filkin revolves around allegations that Mr Portillo gave several after-dinner speeches to audiences of businessmen for fees of as much as £5,000 a time.
Mr Portillo could not be reached for comment last night, and a Conservative Party spokesman said that the party had no comment to make on the complaint.
It comes hot on the heels of a complaint to Ms Filkin by Mr Portillo's frontbench colleague Angela Browning about Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy's earnings from after-dinner speaking.
Ms Browning, shadow trade and industry secretary, described allegations that Mr Kennedy had not registered his earnings from this source as "a matter of grave concern".
Asked about that complaint yesterday morning, Mr Kennedy told BBC Radio 4's Today programme said that he was seeking clarification of what requirement there was to register fees for speaking.
He added: "I am very interested the Conservatives have chosen to try and make an issue of this. "One assumes therefore there is no question of any senior parliamentary Conservative accepting the occasional outside speaking engagement."
