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Wednesday, 23 February, 2000, 20:05 GMT
Footy, pop and MP's coffee cups

Robbie Williams at the Brit Awards -
Robbie Williams at the Brit Awards - watched by a strong parliamentary presence


Gifts of coffee cups and crystal glasses, a night out at the Brit awards and clothes from a TV makeover are among the items declared by MPs in the latest register of their interests.

Under Commons rules, MPs have to provide details of fees, sponsorship, employment, shareholdings, free trips and gifts in the annual register.

Frank Leboeuf: Paid MP's hotel costs Frank Leboeuf: Paid MP's hotel costs
And the latest edition shows a wide and sometimes faintly bizarre collection of inclusions.

It includes Tory frontbencher Nigel Evans' complimentary membership of the Stringfellows nightclub, and a trip to Marrakesh in Morocco by West Ham MP Tony Banks as a guest of Chelsea footballer Frank Leboeuf and his wife, who paid the former sports minister's travel and hotel costs.

Most MPs declare at least one interest, ranging from small gifts from firms donated to charity to shareholdings in major PLCs.

Prime Minister Tony Blair details his controversial holiday in Italy last year simply: "August 1999, accompanied by my family, I spent nine days as guest of Signor Chisti, the President of the Tuscan Regional Government, and made a donation to a local charity."

Conservative leader William Hague details the "occasional use of a Range Rover provided by Sebastian Coe OBE", the use of Lord Archer's gym on Albert Embankment until November and a gift of six "Harlequin" coffee cups and saucers from a Thomas Goode.

Several MPs register the gift of a rug from the Oriental Carpet Company during a visit to Egypt in April.

Football trip

Labour ex-minister Alan Meale offers perhaps the most ununsual entry: "Parliamentary spokesperson and consultant (unpaid) to the `Stand By Me Club', an organisation devoted to soul music and to the promotion of the song `Stand By Me', especially the recorded versions made by the artists Ben E King and/or Kenny Lynch."

Tony Banks Tony Banks: Big Chelsea fan
Tickets for sporting events feature heavily in the register; many MPs receive tickets for football matches from clubs in their constituency, while a number attended fixtures in last year's rugby and cricket world cups and at the British Grand Prix at Silverstone.

The parliamentary football team made a visit to Portugal, with travel costs paid by National Express and kit cots met by Spall Sports.

Vauxhall MP Kate Hoey registers a lift to Luton Airport from Manchester in a plane owned by a director of Arsenal Football Club in January.

A number of MPs had a night out at the annual Brits pop awards ceremony.

Nigel Evans MP Nigel Evans MP: Stringfellows membership
But it is the gifts received by MPs which provide the most unusual entries;

  • Tom Clarke, MP for Coatbridge and Chryston, received from the Drumpellier Golf Club, Coatbridge "a set of crystal glasses, engraved, containing a verse on each glass from "A man's a man for a' thaat" and a photograph of the opening of the extension to the Drumpellier Golf Club which I performed."

  • Cotswold MP Geoffrey Clifton-Brown received a silver key ring from Tiffany and Co as a Christmas gift from the ambassador of Saudi Arabia

  • Stephen Pound, MP for Ealing North, received two Harrods hampers from Mohamed al-Fayed, one of which he donated to pensioners in his constituency with the other auctioned for charity "with no benefit to me".

  • Ian Taylor, MP for Esher and Walton, received a box of cigars from the Cuban embassy.

    As compensation for a cancelled transatlantic flight, Cynon Valley MP Ann Clwyd received 20,000 Virgin Air Miles from Virgin Atlantic.

    And Lembit Opik, MP for Montgomeryshire, registers clothes and glasses provided by the BBC as part of a makeover item on The Club programme.

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    See also:
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    15 Dec 99 |  UK Politics
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