Liam Fox lobbied PM on behalf of trade group that pays him £1,000 an hour

theguardian.com:

The former cabinet minister Liam Fox has been criticised for lobbying the prime minister on behalf of a business group that pays him £1,000 an hour.

Fox, a former trade secretary, is the chairman and a “commissioner” of the Global Britain Commission, whose members include representatives of the banking industry group UK Finance, the private bank Coutts, Heathrow, Virgin Atlantic, Forth Ports and others. It is expected to pay him £6,000 for six hours of work over the past six months.

In his role as a commissioner of the group, Fox wrote an open letter to the prime minister pressing for an export tax credit – a tax break for exporters – as well as a merger between the Department for Business and the Department for Trade – a move that Rishi Sunak made earlier this month.

His letter also highlighted the group’s recent recommendations before the budget calling for the scrapping of air passenger duty and changes to the apprenticeship levy, while requesting a meeting with the prime minister to discuss its suggestions.

Anneliese Dodds, the chair of the Labour party, criticised Fox’s work for the lobbying group, saying: “Rishi Sunak promised a government of professionalism, integrity and accountability at all levels. Now we learn that former ministers are making money hand over fist lobbying him on changes to the machinery of government. “Rishi Sunak needs to be clear how much his grand relaunch was influenced by this lobbying group. “There is no reason why former ministers should be moonlighting as consultants or lobbyists for huge fees. Labour tried to ban dodgy second jobs over a year ago but the Conservatives lined up to vote for a watered down cop-out. Rishi Sunak needs to deal with this issue urgently.”

Fox’s activities do not