Tory MP investigated over alleged lobbying for fake gambling company

A Conservative Party Member of Parliament in the United Kingdom has been suspended pending an investigation into the man’s alleged lobbying for a made-up gambling company, that was part of a sting operation set up by The Times, multiple media sources reported.

Scott Benton, who was elected from Blackpool South and served as a party whip, has been suspended from the parliamentary group, pending his investigation. Benton referred himself to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, which prompted the suspension, after the first reports of his involvement with the company surfaced. No official reference to Benton has been made on the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards' website at the time of reporting.

A spokesperson for Conservative Chief Whip Simon Hart confirmed the news. Benton is in hot water after he offered to lobby on behalf of a non-existing gambling company. He was approached by journalists in The Times who went undercover and pretended to be representatives of the company.

The company in question, TAHR Partners, is a non-existent entity that was made up by The Times and used to allegedly grease the MP’s palms in exchange for lobbying services. No actual exchange of money happened during any of the interactions between the journalists and the Tory MP.

Benton was recorded by the media in a London hotel in March. The media went undercover in order to look into allegations of whether the gambling industry had indeed secured favor with certain MPs who have received financial incentives to forward company interests.

The Times went after several MPs, asking if they would be willing to be paid as "expert advisors." Benton was at least one of the people who responded and made the focus of the media’s story. He and the fake representatives of the company spoke about the possibility of Benton putting certain questions up for debate in parliament that would prove favorable to the company’s operations.

He allegedly suggested that he would be happy to provide sensitive information concerning the much-anticipated White Paper review ahead of schedule – some 48 hours the media said. While Benton asked for no payment himself, a suggestion by the undercover journalists to pay him £2,000 and £4,000 a month to forward the company’s interests was met with an agreement by the MP, the media explained.

The Times said that Benton promised to make a "song and dance" in order to secure the White Paper ahead of schedule. This could be construed as an infringement of the country’s lobbying laws which explicitly prohibit MPs from carrying out paid lobbying on behalf of companies. Benton may have broken those laws.

During his interview with The Times, Benton further noted that TAHR Partners could be granted access to certain ministers (supposedly through him) or even submit input on certain aspects that concern the industry directly. This is another issue to consider, because MPs may not lobby with ministers on behalf of companies either.

Benton was confident that he could – The Times reported – allegedly saying that he could get TAHR Partners’ concerns "to the ear" of the minister in charge of making the decisions impacting the industry. He described a possibility where he would have about 10 minutes to supposedly talk to the minister.

The investigation will determine thefate of Benton, but whatever the outcome, the probe has damaged the reputation of the Tory parliamentary group either way at a time when consumer qualms about the unaccountability of the gambling industry is at an all-time high.

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