The Tory MP in charge of scrutinising new energy and climate change laws has been caught boasting about how he can use his leadership of a powerful Commons committee to push his private business interests. Tim Yeo told undercover reporters — posing as representatives of a firm offering to hire him — that he was close to “really all the key players in the UK in government” and could introduce them to “almost everyone you needed to get hold of in this country”. Yeo, chairman of the energy and climate change committee, was approached by reporters claiming to represent a green energy company. He was filmed revealing that he had coached a paying client on how to influence the committee. --Robert Watts,
The Sunday Telegraph, 9 June 2013
The Parliamentary standards commissioner, Kathryn Hudson, is expected to launch an investigation today into an allegation that the chairman of a powerful Commons committee used his position to help business colleagues. Tim Yeo, the Tory chairman of the Energy and Climate Change committee confirmed today that he wants Ms Hudson to look into the allegations “thoroughly.” He is adamant that he has not broken Commons rules . Undercover reports posing as representatives of a solar energy company approached Mr Yeo to try to persuade to accept a £7,000 a day commission to act as their advocate. --Andy McSmith,
The Independent, 10 June 2013
Greedy Tory grandee Tim Yeo faced furious calls to quit his plum Commons job yesterday after becoming the latest politician to be hit by cash-for-influence claims. Mr Yeo has been urged to resign as chairman of the Energy select committee after he was secretly filmed apparently boasting he had advised a business executive, who he has financial links to, on how to handle a grilling from the group. According to a Sunday newspaper sting, the MP was offered £7,000 a day. In return, he said he could introduce undercover journalists – posing as representatives of a green energy firm – to ministers. --
Daily Mirror, 10 June 2013
Tim Yeo has airily dismissed any suggestion of a conflict of interest between his role as chairman of the Commons energy and climate change committee and his lucrative work with the green industry. At the last count he had six and has earned more than £400,000 from the green industry since 2009, which was when MPs had to specify the income they receive. One of the most evangelical environmentalists in the Commons, Yeo last year angrily attacked Tory backbenchers who did not share his zeal. ‘Some Conservative backbenchers are pursuing a policy designed to prove they are not going to get into so-called costly green initiatives. It is extraordinary.’ The independent-minded Tory MP Chris Heaton-Harris responded: ‘I’m sure Yeo’s genuinely worried about the subsidies for green jobs, especially as he holds so many of them himself.’ --Andrew Pierce,
Daily Mail, 10 June 2013
A Tory MP has complained about a government global-warming adviser’s undisclosed green interests – despite the fact he himself is paid a fortune by eco-energy and transport firms. Tim Yeo, chairman of the Energy and Climate Change select committee, has protested about Lord Deben remaining chairman of Veolia Water UK while also chairing the Committee on Climate Change, an independent body that advises the Government on the impact of climate change. Mr Yeo’s critics will argue his protest smacks of hypocrisy as he has been paid more than £400,000 by three green companies since 2009. --David Rose,
Mail on Sunday, 9 June 2013
