Former top Tory John Whittingdale apologises over Amsterdam junket with dominatrix


Source: Mirror.co.uk.


UK – LONDON – Tory former minister John Whittingdale issued a grovelling apology today after a sleaze watchdog rapped him for failing to declare a £1,500 junket to Amsterdam with a dominatrix.

The ex-Culture Secretary was guilty of a “clear breach” of Commons rules for not recording the trip to the 2013 MTV Awards, according to Standards Commissioner Kathryn Hudson.

The slap down came after the company which hosted Mr Whittingdale and his then-girlfriend Olivia King – who unknown to him was a professional dominatrix – said the cost of the jolly was triple what he had previously claimed.

Ms Hudson said: “He has acknowledged that the cost of this visit was above the threshold for registration and that the rules of the House required its registration.”

The Mirror revealed in April how Mr Whittingdale failed to declare the trip, which came when he was chairman of the powerful Commons Culture Committee.

He was later referred to the Commissioner following a string of allegations about his private life.

Mr Whittingdale said he did not believe he needed to register the hospitality because it was only worth £534.82 – under the threshold of one per cent of an MP’s salary.

In an exchange of letters, Mr Whittingdale told Ms Hudson he had asked the full cost – but only referred to the value for his ticket and travel.

“As I am sure you will appreciate, the use of the singular leaves some room for ambiguity which I need to resolve,” she told him.

But Viacom, the firm which paid for his jolly, told the Commissioner that figure did not include the ticket and other costs for the MP’s partner.

The total value was £1,529.07, according to the company.

It wrote to Ms Hudson: “You asked whether the hospitality extended to Mr Whittingdale’s guest was included in the £534.82 quoted.

“The answer to this question is no. I have now reviewed the matter and have undertaken a valuation of the trip’s various components.”

Confronted with the full cost, the humiliated Tory said: “Given this revised advice, I of course recognise that this should have been declared in the Register at the time.

“I apologise that I failed to do so which was the result of my misinterpreting the information that I received from the company as to the cost.”

He added that was “sorry” he “misinterpreted the original advice”.

The Tory MP for Maldon in Essex said he did not know Ms King was a sex worker and he broke off the relationship when he discovered her job.

The Culture Secretary said he went out with her for around six months in 2013 and 2014 – before he entered the Cabinet. They met through the Match.com site.

The minister, who is divorced with two children, said he brought the ‘embarrassing’ relationship to an end as soon as he discovered her occupation.

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