David Lammy MP inadvertently breached code of conduct

Labour shadow minister David Lammy broke MP rules for late declaration of financial interests, an inquiry found.

Mr Lammy failed to register 16 interests on time, including payments for tickets to American football and boxing matches in London.

Under code of conduct rules, MPs must register changes to their financial interests within 28 days.

Parliamentary Standards Commissioner Kathryn Stone was satisfied "there was no deliberate intention to mislead".

In her summary, Ms Stone said she opened an inquiry on 16 June after receiving an allegation that Mr Lammy was involved in eight events between 7 October and 15 November 2021 which he failed to register within the set timeframe.

She then found a further seven interests had been registered late, taking the total to 15.

The Labour MP for Tottenham then brought to Ms Stone's attention another "single late declaration", which was added to the scope of the investigation.

In a letter to the commissioner, the shadow foreign secretary offered his "sincere apologies" for the late submissions, saying he was "thoroughly embarrassed" by the breaches which were "genuine oversights resulting from administrative errors on my behalf".

He told Ms Stone the register would now feature on the agenda at his weekly team meetings, with his head of office and executive assistant having separate regular catch-ups on the issue.

Mr Lammy also promised to set reminders in his team calendar to "check and submit standard returns".

The commissioner said, based on the evidence, she was satisfied "there was no deliberate intention to mislead", but concluded Mr Lammy breached the code.

This was "as a result of inattention to detail", she said, and found the breaches were "inadvertent".

She concluded that a referral to the Standards Committee was "not necessary".