Monday, February 05, 2024
Another VIP lane
As if the VIP lane fiasco during covid was not bad enough, the Mirror reports on another version that apparently emerged last April, when it is alleged that a Tory minister on a trade mission to India said he would be happy to help the tech firm owned by the family of Rishi Sunak’s wife grow in the UK.
The paper tells us that Trade minister Lord Johnson said he was “keen to see a bigger Infosys presence in the UK and would be happy to do what he could to facilitate that”. Infosys is now vying for UK contracts worth £750m:
The top Tory told the Prime Minister’s wife’s family firm he would “do what he could” to ensure the company’s growth in the UK.
We used Freedom of Information laws to force the Government to release details of a meeting between business and trade minister Lord Dominic Johnson and Infosys, the Indian tech company in which Mr Sunak’s wife Akshata Murty has shares.
The papers disclose how the peer told the firm’s executives he was “keen to see a bigger Infosys presence in the UK and would be happy to do what he could to facilitate that”.
Lord Johnson said: “We value the relationship with Infosys and will continue to engage at a Ministerial level when requested of us.”
Labour yesterday blasted the document as damning. It said the Government had serious questions to answer about giving “VIP access” to a business so personally close to the PM. The Lib Dems demanded full transparency.
Details of the meeting in India last April had not been released until we asked for them – and its revelation follows our story last week on how Infosys was potentially in line for millions in public money after being put on an “approved list” of suppliers for public sector contracts worth more than £750million.
At the meeting, Lord Johnson steered Infosys on how to obtain UK visas for its staff and “reassured” them on the prospects for the UK economy.
His officials reported that “despite Brexit ”, Infosys wanted to further boost its £1.8bn-a-year UK business. The PM’s wife owns £624m shares in the IT giant founded by her father. Together with her brother and mother, the family own £2.4billion in shares. Akshata’s Infosys shares earned her £13m last year and help make her husband the UK’s wealthiest-ever Prime Minister.
Now Infosys is planning to increase its workforce in the UK – its second- biggest market – by 20% to 6,000.
One of the firm’s biggest investors is Somerset Capital, co-founded by Lord Johnson, a major Tory party donor who Mr Sunak re-appointed as Trade Minister after he became PM in October 2022.
The India meeting in April 2023 also included discussions over the free trade agreement (FTA) being negotiated between India and the UK and how it would benefit Infosys. In the briefing notes for Johnson, one bullet point says: “Reassure that the FTA will further create new opportunities and investor friendly policies to support business growth.”
I understand that there is a need for commercial confidentiality when Ministers are engaged in trade talks, but when it involves the Prime Minister's family surely there has to be a level of transparency in these matters. It is almost as if Ministers are going out of their way to destroy trust in politics.
The paper tells us that Trade minister Lord Johnson said he was “keen to see a bigger Infosys presence in the UK and would be happy to do what he could to facilitate that”. Infosys is now vying for UK contracts worth £750m:
The top Tory told the Prime Minister’s wife’s family firm he would “do what he could” to ensure the company’s growth in the UK.
We used Freedom of Information laws to force the Government to release details of a meeting between business and trade minister Lord Dominic Johnson and Infosys, the Indian tech company in which Mr Sunak’s wife Akshata Murty has shares.
The papers disclose how the peer told the firm’s executives he was “keen to see a bigger Infosys presence in the UK and would be happy to do what he could to facilitate that”.
Lord Johnson said: “We value the relationship with Infosys and will continue to engage at a Ministerial level when requested of us.”
Labour yesterday blasted the document as damning. It said the Government had serious questions to answer about giving “VIP access” to a business so personally close to the PM. The Lib Dems demanded full transparency.
Details of the meeting in India last April had not been released until we asked for them – and its revelation follows our story last week on how Infosys was potentially in line for millions in public money after being put on an “approved list” of suppliers for public sector contracts worth more than £750million.
At the meeting, Lord Johnson steered Infosys on how to obtain UK visas for its staff and “reassured” them on the prospects for the UK economy.
His officials reported that “despite Brexit ”, Infosys wanted to further boost its £1.8bn-a-year UK business. The PM’s wife owns £624m shares in the IT giant founded by her father. Together with her brother and mother, the family own £2.4billion in shares. Akshata’s Infosys shares earned her £13m last year and help make her husband the UK’s wealthiest-ever Prime Minister.
Now Infosys is planning to increase its workforce in the UK – its second- biggest market – by 20% to 6,000.
One of the firm’s biggest investors is Somerset Capital, co-founded by Lord Johnson, a major Tory party donor who Mr Sunak re-appointed as Trade Minister after he became PM in October 2022.
The India meeting in April 2023 also included discussions over the free trade agreement (FTA) being negotiated between India and the UK and how it would benefit Infosys. In the briefing notes for Johnson, one bullet point says: “Reassure that the FTA will further create new opportunities and investor friendly policies to support business growth.”
I understand that there is a need for commercial confidentiality when Ministers are engaged in trade talks, but when it involves the Prime Minister's family surely there has to be a level of transparency in these matters. It is almost as if Ministers are going out of their way to destroy trust in politics.
