Jowell cleared over pub shares
Culture secretary Tessa Jowell was last night cleared by the parliamentary standards watchdog over not registering her husband's shares in a pub company.
StandardsParliamentary Commissioner for Standards Sir Phillip Mawer said that under Commons rules, she was not required to declare the shares in the Old Monk pub company because only her estranged husband - David Mills - was the beneficiary.
He said: "Even if - and this is, I understand denied by him - Mr Mills was the beneficial owner of the shares, Ms Jowell was not obliged to register them."
The case was raised by Conservative MP and National Pubwatch president Nigel Evans.
Documents leakedHe claimed documents leaked by Italian prosecutors showed Mills was the beneficiary of the £67,000 profit while Jowell was a health minister and instrumental in licensing law changes.
In a letter to Evans, Jowell wrote about the pub company and the shares: "I had never heard of this company or the transactions. I understand the shares were never owned by my husband."
Evans told morningadvertiser.co.uk: "Ms Jowell has been cleared by Sir Phillip over not having to register the shares in the Old Monk Pub Company. But I am still waiting for a response from cabinet secretary Sir Gus O'Donnell regarding the much more serious issue of a conflict of interest regarding her position in influencing laws about licensing and smoking at the time Mr Mills sold the shares.
"I fully support Sir Alistair Graham - Chairman of the Committee on Standards in Public Life - who has called for an independent review into breaches of ministerial code." To comment on this or any other story email us by clicking this link
