Mr Geoffrey Cox Report published
4 February 2016
The Committee on Standards releases its report into the conduct of Mr Geoffrey Cox.
The Report
The Committee is grateful to the Commissioner for her inquiry which arose from a self-referral by Mr Cox of his failure to register eleven payments received in respect of legal services provided by him in his capacity as a practising barrister.
The Committee agreed that Mr Cox was in breach of the Code by not declaring the payments in a timely fashion. The Committee recommends that Mr Cox makes an apology to the House (i.e. on the Floor) for his failure to meet the requirements of the rules on registration.
The Commissioner's detailed memorandum is appended to the report. Associated evidence is published on the internet, as is the Register of Members Interests.
Chair's comments
The Chair of the Committee, Kevin Barron said:
"The Committee accepts that Mr Cox had no intention to hide the payments and notes that he fully cooperated with the Commissioner’s inquiry and apologised to her and to the Registrar for the breach of the rules. Nevertheless, the number of payments was significant and the failure to declare went on for a considerable period of time. In addition, as a member of this Committee, Mr Cox should have been more aware of the rules than most Members and shown more leadership in this area. We therefore consider that an apology to the House is justified."
Mr Cox stood down as a member of the Committee as soon as his failure to register the payments came to light.
The three lay members of the Committee played a full and active part in the drawing up the Committee’s report, with which they are in agreement.
The Committee on Standards welcomed the Commissioner’s new review of the Code of Conduct and the Guide to the Rules, and announced that it will be exploring questions around the Code in its own parallel programme of work.