Labour demands answers from PM about aide Mark Fullbrook

Labour has demanded to know what Liz Truss knew about her chief of staff's reported involvement in a FBI election bribe probe.

Mark Fullbrook is a witness in an FBI inquiry into alleged bribery in the US territory Puerto Rico.

The prime minister has said he went through a "proper process" before he was appointed to his No 10 role.

A spokesperson for Mr Fullbrook said he was confident he had complied with all laws in this matter.

In a letter to Cabinet Secretary Simon Case, Labour's Deputy Leader Angela Rayner has asked when he first became aware of the allegations, when this information was shared with the prime minister and whether Mr Fullbrook disclosed anything about the investigation when he took up his new job.

In a statement, Ms Rayner said: "Those who held out the slightest hope that Liz Truss would turn the page on years of Tory sleaze can already see just weeks into office that she's already delivering more of the same.

"She urgently needs to come clean on what she knew and when."

Downing Street said Mr Fullbrook had the PM's "full support".

When asked on Tuesday if she knew about the matter, Ms Truss said all government staff "go through a proper process" and that was what happened with Mr Fullbrook.

"We have a propriety and ethics team which make sure that everybody is properly going through the process," the prime minister said.

A No 10 spokesperson said Mr Fullbrook had not travelled with the prime minister to the United Nations General Assembly in New York because he was working on other important government business.

The FBI investigation relates to allegations that Julio Herrera Velutini, a financier and Tory donor, promised to help the former governor of Puerto Rico get re-elected if she dismissed an official investigating a bank he owned there.

Prosecutors allege that Mr Herrera paid more than £250,000 to political consultants to help the former governor's campaign.

Mr Herrera has denied the charges against him.

Although the political consultancy firm is not named in the indictment, it was identified as CT Group by Channel 4 News and the investigative blog Sarawak Report in August.

The company, which was founded by the Australian political strategist Sir Lynton Crosby, has a long-standing association with the Conservative Party.

Mark Fullbrook, who was CT Group's former chief global projects officer, was one of those who worked on the Puerto Rico brief.

There is no suggestion that either CT Group or Mr Fullbrook knew anything about the alleged bribery of the governor.

A spokesperson for the company said: "CT was engaged only by Mr Herrera and only to conduct opinion research for him and no one else. It never did any work for, nor presented any research findings to, the Governor or her campaign. It has not been engaged by him since.

"CT Group is committed to and complies with all laws and regulations in any jurisdiction in which it works and is confident that it has done so in this matter.

"Indeed, relevant existing CT employees and former employee Mark Fullbrook, are witnesses in this matter and they and CT Group have fully, completely and voluntarily engaged with the US authorities in this matter, as they always do in any circumstance in which CT Group's assistance is sought by authorities."

A spokesperson for Mr Fullbrook said: "As has been made repeatedly clear, Mr Fullbrook is committed to and complies with all laws and regulations in any jurisdiction in which he works and is confident that he has done so in this matter.

"Indeed, Mark Fullbrook is a witness in this matter and has fully, completely and voluntarily engaged with the US authorities in this matter, as he would always do in any circumstance in which his assistance is sought by authorities.

"The work was engaged only by Mr Herrera and only to conduct opinion research for him and no one else. Mr Fullbrook never did any work for, nor presented any research findings to, the Governor or her campaign. There has been no engagement since.

"Mr Fullbrook understands that there are active legal proceedings against other individuals and entities. It would therefore be inappropriate to comment further."

In her letter to the Cabinet Secretary, Ms Rayner accused the prime minister of preserving "an ethical vacuum at the heart of Downing Street".

She said that Ms Truss currently had neither an independent adviser on ministers' interests nor an anti-corruption tsar following the resignations of Lord Geidt and John Penrose while Boris Johnson was in office.