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Garnier defends tickets 'gifts'

7:30am Friday 13th January 2012 in News Photograph of the Author By Cadisha Brown

WYRE Forest’s MP said he has done nothing wrong in accepting gifts of tickets to attend a ball and flower show as it is “just a part of life”.

Mark Garnier told The Shuttle he had turned down hundreds of invitations offered to him since becoming an MP, including tickets to see Paul McCartney and said his acceptance of the tickets did not have to be justified.

He received two hospitality show ground tickets for last year’s Chelsea Flower Show last May from Japan Tobacco International (JTI), costing £1,100 Mr Garnier said they were offered to him after he spoke at a conference hosted by the tobacco company on the effect smuggling the product has on the tax payer.

“I said 'yes' because I have never been to the Chelsea Flower Show before,” he said. “Also JTI were celebrating the work of their charity.”

It was also revealed in The Register of Members' Financial Interests that the MP accepted a £1,000 ticket last February from his friend, Conservative donor Michael Hintze, to attend the party’s Black and White Ball.

Mr Garnier said: “It was a Conservative fund-raiser ball and he said ‘would you join our table?’ I thought it would be the right thing to do, to put it as a declaration.”

He added: “Of course I have done nothing wrong. It’s already on the Register of Members’ Interest. There’s nothing wrong. It’s all perfectly normal. It’s exactly the same in the corporate world. It’s just a part of life.

“There’s 999 that I didn’t accept. The vast majority of these stuff I already say no to. All of us who are MPs in Worcestershire have taken pay cuts of some form or other from coming out of the private sector to serve our communities and do it because we believe in serving our communities and Great Britain.

“If we wanted to have our nose in the trough I could go back to being an investment banker. The reason I’m an MP is the complete opposite to having my nose in the trough.

“Two years of hundred hour weeks. To pick on this one thing is really irritating.”

Comments(20)

Red Flag Dan says...
10:20am Fri 13 Jan 12

Great article!

“If we wanted to have our nose in the trough I could go back to being an investment banker."

I am sorry that Mr Garnier had to take a pay cut when he became an MP. I too would struggle on a £65,738 salary. Thank god he managed to top it up last year by claiming an additional £17,973.82 for accomodation.

Oh, and let's not forget the £4,647.58 that he claimed for food and travel.

And as for receiving gifts from the tobacco industry - could you imagine Dr Richard Taylor ever doing that?

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Gobby Robby says...
11:42am Fri 13 Jan 12

Personally i'm not too bothered about expenses as long as it's not too bad and they're not flagrantly abused like a certain Bewdley Clr does. It takes away from the real issue which here is what kind of moral sewer rat is taking money and sponsership from the tobacco industry? Our lovely MP Mark Garnier. What kind of favours is he doing them in return ? How many deaths will that correlate to on Mark's conscience (if he has one)? Reminds me of Thatcher's involvement (consultant) in Phillip Morris (Marlborough) when they were targeting areas of the 3rd world were tobacco wasn't smoked much. How many 10's of thousands of deaths has our ex glorious leader got on her (non existent) conscience? I wonder if there is an anti tobacco campaign? They need to target Garnier. Who would have thought that after Dr Taylor was voted out our constituency would seep into the mire so very, very quickly :-(

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kidderlord says...
3:42pm Fri 13 Jan 12

I hope he went to Chelsea in his own time at the weekend and not in parliamentary time. He spends little time on the benches of the commons as it is. And what was on the menu for a thousand pounds - if he looked round his own constituency he could get a three course meal for under a tenner.

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kidderlord says...
3:44pm Fri 13 Jan 12

Oh and btw, its nice to see a w oops banker admitting they have their snouts in the troff!

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Red Flag Dan says...
4:24pm Fri 13 Jan 12

I note that Mr Garnier has also claimed for "speech writing training" for a member of his staff.

He would have been better off spending the money on training them to deal with press enquiries because I don't think that, “If we wanted to have our nose in the trough I could go back to being an investment banker", was the best line to take!

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Gobby Robby says...
6:16pm Fri 13 Jan 12

I can't believe Mark admitted that he used to have his nose in the trough, what an admission! I suppose he knows, unless Dr Taylor makes a surprise comeback, he's in for life so he can say what the hell he likes.

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Tav says...
8:13pm Fri 13 Jan 12

Think of it this way: Michael Hintze, the Australian/British billionaire, has to donate thousands of pounds to see Mark Garnier, while anyone from Wyre Forest can see him for free!
____________________
___
Have I blogged about this? Check out the Wyre Forest Agenda to find out!

http://t.co/J7eOVZuX

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flatfoot says...
9:02pm Fri 13 Jan 12

How gracious of our MP to take a pay cut to 'serve' the populace of Wyre Forest. I also serve the populace of Wyre Forest and have taken a pay cut...the only difference between me and our Lord Mark is.... I had no choice.

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Stephen Brown says...
11:21pm Fri 13 Jan 12

Flatfoot: a good point well made!

Tav: local people as constituents of Mark's may get an audience for free but is there ever a satisfactory outcome? I cannot say from Mark about, apart from once, have I ever got anything meaningful back - and even that was a promise of a follow up that never happened. The point is we may get an audience for free but when someone or some organisation is 'gifting' it may imply a favour is required in return.

So it was about a conference on 'smuggling', and a reward, if you like, for a contribution to that. Well that sounds like he was simply doing his job...is that really worth a favour?

Now it may well be this particular 'gift' is all totally innocent, I have no idea - but Tobacco companies are not known for their generosity to aid the cause of the betterment of mankind are they, so what's the catch? And even if there is nothing to all of this, even simply accepting a gift off a tobacco company does not show much political nous does it given the views, passion and controversy it ignites, so it was always going to court comment and that puts his judgement into question. And it's the last bit that concerns me more than anything else. Top press release from his office however if you want to compound the lack of judgement accusation.

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kidderlord says...
8:46am Sat 14 Jan 12

the most interesting thing here is that not one tory has come to his defence - obviously the rumours about a gigantic rift between the constituency party and their mp is true!

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kidderlord says...
8:46am Sat 14 Jan 12

the most interesting thing here is that not one tory has come to his defence - obviously the rumours about a gigantic rift between the constituency party and their mp is true!

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Gobby Robby says...
5:45pm Sat 14 Jan 12

An out of control cabal, a gigantic rift between MP and constituency party and a party (Health Concern) gaining votes on a race baiting platform. What's happened to Wyre Forest? A start in cleaning up this mess would be for the local Conservative Party to deselect Mark Garnier, their ratings would shoot through the roof.

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kidderlord says...
8:45am Sun 15 Jan 12

that is what they want to do - Marcushart has been standing in the wings since the last selection process when he had to withdraw. He is the preferred choice hence Campion and co distanciung themselves from Grainger.. oops Garnier never see him in the commons to remember his name. Perhaps he never gets called by the speaker because he hasnt got a clue who he is as he's never in the chamber. All our surrounding MPs, like harriet Baldwin, margot James, Savid from Bromsgrove, Peter Luff and Robin Walker are regularly on the back benches.

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Frank Owen says...
9:05am Sun 15 Jan 12

Why don't the Conservatives look for a "normal" working person as their candidate, instead of using people from already privileged backgrounds?

If they truly want someone to represent the people, then go out and find a shop worker, bus driver, bin man etc
Someone who has to live with the everyday effects of government policy not those who are insulated from it by virtue of their high paid positions.

Or is that too much like democracy?

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Gobby Robby says...
6:08pm Sun 15 Jan 12

Because they don't represent normal people, only the very rich.

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Gobby Robby says...
6:10pm Sun 15 Jan 12

Marcus Hart? That would be jumping out of the frying pan into the fire.

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DQT says...
1:03am Mon 16 Jan 12

Gobby Robby wrote:
I can't believe Mark admitted that he used to have his nose in the trough, what an admission! I suppose he knows, unless Dr Taylor makes a surprise comeback, he's in for life so he can say what the hell he likes.
I can't believe he admitted to being a banker! I'd try and keep that hushed up if I were him...

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DOEPUBLIC says...
5:32pm Mon 16 Jan 12

Maybe he'll be able to get some free plants for the new WFDC HQ.
Sadly 15,000+ also gave him free entry to parliament.

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FranOb says...
9:59pm Mon 16 Jan 12

As Polish Consul I get to arrange the Holocaust Memorial Commemoration each year. (This year it is Jan 29th).
When he was MP Richard Taylor came, every year, with his family and made the "keynote" speech.
Last year I invited Mark Garnier and got a 2 line reply from his Parliamentary Office stating that he was not accepting invitations on Sunday's as this was "family time"!
The victims of the Holocaust had their family time torn away from them and I found it unbelievable that an MPcould be so "shallow".
I have sent an invite again this year, I hope there is a more positive response!

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kidderlord says...
6:04pm Tue 17 Jan 12

for those of you who havent seen it there is an excellent response to this on the wyre forest labour party website by howard martin.

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