Labour’s David Lammy under investigation by Commons watchdog

Labour’s shadow foreign secretary David Lammy is being investigated over allegations believed to centre on the late registration of financial interests.

Parliamentary Standards Commissioner Kathryn Stone was looking at possible breaches to the MPs’ code of conduct under areas covering earnings, gifts and foreign travel.

Mr Lammy apologised for the error and said he had put “revised systems in place” to prevent late declarations in the future.

This was included in an update to Parliament’s website after Ms Stone opened the investigation on Wednesday.

As soon as this was brought to his attention he wrote to Registrar of Members' Financial Interests to apologise for the administrative errors in his office which led to late declarations in December last year

The MP for Tottenham in London joins Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer in being investigated by the watchdog.

Sir Keir insisted he was “absolutely confident” he had not broken the rules, as he blamed the investigation on “administrative errors” in his office.

Under the rules, MPs must register changes to their financial interests within 28 days.

Mr Lammy’s financial register contains a series of interests registered after that period, including a speech in the US on the invasion of Ukraine.

And a sum of £3,280 received from the Canary Wharf Group on December 1 for a speech and question-and-answer session was not registered until May 27.

A spokesperson for Mr Lammy said: “David Lammy takes his declaration responsibilities seriously and as soon as this was brought to his attention he wrote to Registrar of Members’ Financial Interests to apologise for the administrative errors in his office which led to late declarations in December last year.

“He has assured the registrar that he has put revised systems in place so that declarations are made in a timely manner. We are happy to provide the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner with any further information.”