By Justin Madders

MP for Ellesmere Port

ALLEGATIONS of inappropriate behaviour on the part of Government Ministers past and present are again centre stage on the political agenda.

We find ourselves debating whether the MP who now occupies the post of Conservative Party chairman acted appropriately over his tax affairs.

Questions have also been raised – and by no means for the first time – about the actions of former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, this time about the appointment of the present chairman of the BBC.

At the start of the week it was reported that Nadhim Zahawi MP is determined to stay on as Conservative Party chairman amid calls for his resignation after details of a multi-million pound tax dispute emerged.

Mr Zahawi was reported to have paid a penalty to His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs over unpaid tax at a time when he was serving as Chancellor of the Exchequer. He finally handed over a sum reported to be about £5 million which was a combination of the money owed to HMRC plus a penalty for not paying the sum upfront.

Mr Zahawi has described the error as "careless and not deliberate" but pressure has been growing on him to give more details about his tax affairs. Meanwhile Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has decided to bring in the independent ethics adviser to investigate the circumstances and whether there were any breaches of the Ministerial code.

We certainly do need all concerned to come clean about their knowledge of this affair. Meanwhile, Mr Zahawi's position would appear to be "untenable".

The sum of £5m is a not inconsiderable amount of money which is now rightly in the Treasury coffers to be spent on keeping our all-important public services afloat. For the man who was, albeit briefly, in charge of the nation’s finances to have owed so much money to the taxman is not a state of affairs that should have been allowed to happen in the first place.

Let us look now at the latest allegations surrounding Boris Johnson and Richard Sharp, the man now at the helm of the BBC as its Chairman.

It has been widely reported that Mr Sharp was involved in discussions about a loan worth up to £800,000 for Mr Johnson in late 2020.

Former Goldman Sachs banker Mr Sharp was later announced as the Government's choice for the new BBC chairman in January 2021.

The Government's choice is ultimately decided by whoever is Prime Minister but Mr Sharp believes he was appointed to the post fairly.

Mr Sharp said he had not been involved in making a loan, a guarantee or arranging any financing. In a statement he has apologised to BBC staff calling the row "a distraction for the organisation, which I regret".

He told BBC staff in an email on Monday: "I believe firmly that I was appointed on merit.” He said his personal interests would be reviewed by the BBC.

That is not an acceptable approach and I have no doubt that an inquiry needs to be established to look into the propriety of this appointment by Boris Johnson.

Rather than concentrating on straightforward policy issues, which Labour MPs certainly wish to do, we are again having to spend time probing whether Government Ministers are sticking by the rules and blurring the lines between their own interests and their official roles.