| Notes |
Although Grassroots Out is run as a nonprofit, the MPs have personally benefited from its existence. Peter Bone, MP for Wellingborough, received £21,750 from the organisation during the first four months of this year.
According to the register this was made up of £20,000 in accountancy fees for 473 hours of work through a newly formed company called PWB Accountants – equivalent to £42 an hour – and £1,750 for being a company director.
Peter Bone and Tom Pursglove received the money on top of their MPs’ salaries for work undertaken on behalf of the Grassroots Out campaign group, an organisation they founded. Grassroots Out was started in December as a cross-party anti-EU umbrella group campaigning for Britain to leave the European Union.
Eurosceptic Tory MPs Paid £40,000 By Their Own Anti-EU Campaign - BuzzFeed
Two Tory MPs have come under fire for paying themselves a total of £40,000 for running a not-for-profit campaign for a Leave vote in the EU referendum.
Donor Arron Banks said he was "extremely shocked and disappointed" that Peter Bone and Tom Pursglove had profited from Grassroots Out.
He called on them to pay the money to a "smaller Brexit" campaign.
But in a joint statement, the MPs said employing them was "clearly the most cost-effective way" of campaigning.
The payments were revealed in the register of members' interests.
Grassroots Out was founded in December by Mr Bone and Mr Pursglove, with backing from UKIP leader Nigel Farage and, later,
Labour MP Kate Hoey.https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-eu-referendum-36102714 |