Joy Morrissey MP: "Did Ed Miliband declare 2 donations from organisations to which Rachel Kyte is linked?"
October 17th, 2024
Joy Morrissey MP has written to Nick Dyer at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office in order to establish whether Ed Miliband declared 2 donations when appointing Rachel Kyte as the Government's envoy.
Ms Morrissey posted to X:
At every turn, I am getting evasion on the appointment of the Government’s Climate Envoy and the simple question - did Ed Miliband declare 2 donations from organisations to which she is linked? One to Labour for £4m and one to him for £99k.
The Ministerial code is crystal clear.
So now I have asked yet again - did Ed Miliband declare, or even just seek advice, about these 2 donations before appointing his climate envoy?
I will keep going until that question is answered.
Joy Morrissey's letter to Nick Dyer in full:
JOY MORRISSEY MP Member of Parliament for Beaconsfield
Mr Nick Dyer
Second Permanent Under-Secretary
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
King Charles Street
SWIA 2AH
Our Ref: JM42005
Dear My Dyer,
Re: Appointment of Rachel Kyte As The Government's Envoy
17 October 2024
Thank you for your letter of 9th October regarding the appointment of Rachel Kyte as the Government's envoy.
Your reply failed to address a number of the points I raised, but crucially you did not answer my core question about whether the Secretary of State declared the donation of Quadrature Capital to the Labour Party during the process.
The Ministerial Code is clear:
7.7 Ministers must scrupulously avoid any danger of an actual or perceived conflict of interest between their Ministerial position and their private financial interests. They should be guided by the general principle that they should either dispose of the interest giving rise to the conflict or take alternative steps to prevent it. In reaching their decision they should be guided by the advice given to them by their Permanent Secretary and the Independent Adviser on Ministers' interests. Ministers' decisions should not be influenced by the hope or expectation of future employment with a particular firm or organisation.
Quadrature Capital wholly funds Quadrature Climate Foundation. The Directors of Quadrature Capital are also the Directors of Quadrature Climate Foundation.
Quadrature Climate Foundation also funds the Green Finance Institute that gave the Secretary of State for Energy and Net Zero £99,000 in April 2024.
It is therefore clear that there is a danger of an actual or perceived conflict of interest in a direct Ministerial appointment of an individual with links to both donations.
I would therefore like your clear answer to this one question:
Did the Secretary of State for Energy and Net Zero declare or seek advice from officials in relation to these two donations prior to appointing Rachel Kyte?
I look forward to your reply.
Yours sincerely,
Joy Morrissey MP
HOUSE OF COMMONS, LONDON SWIA OAA TEL: 020 7219 6453 EMAIL: JOY.MORRISSEY.MP@PARLIAMENT.UK WWW.JOYMORRISSEY.UK
https://twitter.com/joymorrissey/status/1846948823081378224
