Two Tory MPs accused of not disclosing interests to House

TWO Conservative MPs have failed to disclose in the register of members' interests that they are members of Lloyd's and have therefore breached rules of the House of Commons, according to a parliamentary motion put down by a Labour MP yesterday, writes Rosie Waterhouse.

Winston Churchill, MP for Davyhulme, and Phillip Oppenheim, MP for Amber Valley, have made 'significant' losses according to the Early Day Motion tabled by Peter Hain.

The motion follows another reported in the Independent yesterday which claimed that 12 other Tory MPs have failed to disclose the numbers of their syndiates - as they are now required to do - although they did declare in the register the fact that they were members of Lloyd's.

The motion said their estimated potential losses were just over pounds 6m between them. In a rare move, Betty Boothroyd, the Speaker, refused to allow the motion to give a breakdown of the individual estimated losses.

The Speaker also refused to allow the new motion to reveal the estimated losses incurred by Mr Churchill and Mr Oppenheim.

The new motion called on the Prime Minister to 'instruct Conservative Members to comply with the rules of this House and honestly disclose all interests'.

The all-party select committee on members' interests is to decide what action to take over the 14 MPs' failure to disclose interests.