Ex-Tory MP Andrew Bridgen ‘should have apologised for code breach’ over loan, watchdog says
1 May 2025, 13:50
Andrew Bridgen has been told by a Commons watchdog that he should apologise for failing to declare a £4.47mil loan from a major right-wing donor on time.
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The former Tory MP for North West Leicestershire has been condemned by a Commons sleaze watchdog, after he failed to make a timely declaration on an interest-free loan from Jeremy Hosking.
Mr Bridgen was embroiled in a legal case concerning his family’s potato business, when Mr Hosking offered to loan him the money.
Mr Hosking, a multi-millionaire ranked on the Sunday Times’ Rich List, is the former leader of the Reclaim Party, which Mr Bridgen briefly joined after his expulsion from the Conservative party in 2023.
While the loan itself was not illegal, the watchdog found that Mr Bridgen should have declared it on the Register of Members’ Interests within 28 days.
The committee opened following an investigation by The Times in 2023, which discovered the loans.
At the time, Mr Bridgen argued that the loan wasn’t political so didn’t need to be declared - but the watchdog report has since found the funding “met the test for being a registrable interest”.
Mr Bridgen did go on to declare the loan to the Register, but the first payment was declared 1,135 days late.
Read More: Andrew Bridgen expelled from Conservative Party after comparing Covid jabs to Holocaust
“We hope that Mr Bridgen will now behave honourably and acknowledge that he was wrong, even if honestly wrong” the Commons Standards Committee has said.
The committee acknowledged that, while it would usually recommend Mr Bridgen apologise to Parliament, the recommendation was no longer relevant since he lost his seat in 2024.
“Although the sum of money involved is substantial, this breach of the rules was inadvertent,” they added.
“Even if the Committee wished to impose some sanction on Mr Bridgen, there is no practical sanction now at its disposal.”
The report also condemned Mr Bridgen for trying to identify a complainant to the committee, claiming the report was “politically or personally motivated”.
Mr Bridgen was expelled from the Conservative party after comparing Covid-19 jabs to the Holocaust.
