MATT Hancock demanded £10,000 per day to work as an adviser to a fake Korean company in a sting by a campaign group.
Former Health Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng was tricked by I’m A Celeb Star and ex-Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng to ask Hanseong Consulting for six-figures.
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Hancock claimed that his daily wage was 10,000 sterling to undercover agents from Led By Donkeys.
Second jobs are permitted for MPs, but there’s no evidence that Hancock or the other MPs involved in the sting violated any laws.
It is a fresh embarrassment for Hancock, who revealed that he pocketed an eye-watering £320,000 for starring on I’m a Celeb, on top of a £48,000 serialisation for his pandemic memoirs.
Following his promise to support a hospice, he gave three per cent from his show pay to charity.
A spokesman for Hancock said: “It’s absurd to bring Mr Hancock into this story through the illegal publication of a private conversation.
“All that the video shows Matt doing is acting perfectly.”
Kwarteng said he was willing to work at the same rate and that he didn’t expect to get a “king’s ransom”.
It Observer reports that Sir Graham Brady, chair of the 1922 committee of Tory backbenchers, also told the activists that a daily rate of £6,000 “feels about right”.
Brady announced that he is stepping down for the next election. He also stated that he couldn’t advocate on behalf the fraudulent firm and that any payments received by him would be recorded on the public Register of MPs’ Interests.
He stated that he made clear all arrangements would need to be transparent. That, as an MP, I would not act outside the parameters of the code.
“I made it very clear that I was willing to travel internationally for meetings, but this would require me to sign off on important decisions or committments in Westminster.”
Stephen Hammond, an ex-minister, was offered work paid by the fraudulent company.
He stated that the company had a fake website and was phony.
Led By Dokeys concocted politicians using a fake website that listed credentials, and email asking them to help “our clients navigate the changing political, regulatory, and legislative frameworks” at Whitehall and Westminster.
They were advised that the members of parliament would need to be present at six annual board meetings in exchange for “very appealing” salaries and “generous expense”.
Activists emailed the false job opportunity to 20 Conservative and Labour MPs. Five of these people agreed to be interviewed.
Gavin Williamson was the former Defence Secretary. Williamson terminated the conversation after suspecting that there had been a trick.
The fake senior female executive interviewed five members of parliament while they sat in front of green screens that showed the Seoul skyline.
Kwarteng told the interviewer that he would not do anything for less than £10,000 a month, and demanded extra compensation for travel to Korea.
He then agreed to work for between £8,000 and £12,000 a day, adding that he had significant experience after serving “briefly as chancellor”.
Kwasi Kwarteng was contacted to comment.
After leaked WhatsApp conversations from December 2020 revealed that Hancock had approved an aide’s threat to withhold funding for disabled kids, it was a shocking development which led furious MPs and others to call on him to be brought before Parliament.
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