Is this Labour corruption? The peer who led a government NHS review had health firm shares.
Remember when Lord Ara Darzi was appointed to chair an “independent” review of the National Health Service by Labour Health Secretary Wes Streeting?
It turns out he had hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of shares in private health companies – which casts doubt on the independence of his review, don’t you think?
A Guardian investigation has found Darzi held shares and share options in four healthcare companies that he did not declare on his House of Lords register of interests.
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The information was missing from the register when Streeting appointed him to lead the investigation into the state of the health service.
The Guardian stated:
Lawyers for Darzi said the omission was an “oversight”, and that some of the information had been publicly available in US stock market filings.
They said he had written to the registrar of Lords interests to request his entry be corrected.
But that is irrelevant, because
The Lords rules require peers, as lifelong members of the UK parliament, to be transparent about their commercial interests.
Dr Jonathan Rose, a political integrity expert at De Montfort University, said: “Breaches of the rules are corrosive to the trust that the public should be able to have in parliament. Given that the House of Lords specifically wants people with outside interests to use their knowledge for the public good, and given that people are appointed for life and can’t be removed by elections, it is critical that the rules are followed in full.”
It seems that
Darzi’s lawyers… said: “Before accepting the appointment … our client disclosed his personal interests to [Streeting] (by sharing his House of Lords register of interests) and took a leave of absence from his position at Flagship [Pioneering, a firm that backs several health-based companies] while he was undertaking the NHS investigation and was not paid during this time. This was entirely at our client’s own behest and specifically to ensure that there could be no perceived conflict of interest.”
But isn’t there a conflict of interest simply because he is a person who has shares in private health, who was hired to oversee a critique of the public health organisation?
The Department of Health and Social Care said relevant due diligence procedures were followed – but if vital information was left out of the information provided, it follows that those procedures would not have revealed the important information the government needed to know.
Given what Dr Rose said, it seems clear that the critical duty to follow the rules in full was not honoured and the trust that people should be able to have in Parliament has, indeed, been corroded.
Source: Peer who led government NHS review failed to declare shares in health firms | Ara Darzi | The Guardian
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Is this Labour corruption? The peer who led a government NHS review had health firm shares
Is this Labour corruption? The peer who led a government NHS review had health firm shares.
Remember when Lord Ara Darzi was appointed to chair an “independent” review of the National Health Service by Labour Health Secretary Wes Streeting?
It turns out he had hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of shares in private health companies – which casts doubt on the independence of his review, don’t you think?
A Guardian investigation has found Darzi held shares and share options in four healthcare companies that he did not declare on his House of Lords register of interests.
Buy Cruel Britannia in print here. Buy the Cruel Britannia ebook here. Or just click on the image!
The information was missing from the register when Streeting appointed him to lead the investigation into the state of the health service.
The Guardian stated:
But that is irrelevant, because
It seems that
But isn’t there a conflict of interest simply because he is a person who has shares in private health, who was hired to oversee a critique of the public health organisation?
The Department of Health and Social Care said relevant due diligence procedures were followed – but if vital information was left out of the information provided, it follows that those procedures would not have revealed the important information the government needed to know.
Given what Dr Rose said, it seems clear that the critical duty to follow the rules in full was not honoured and the trust that people should be able to have in Parliament has, indeed, been corroded.
Source: Peer who led government NHS review failed to declare shares in health firms | Ara Darzi | The Guardian
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Join the Vox Political Facebook page.
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5) Follow Vox Political writer Mike Sivier on BlueSky
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7) Feel free to comment!
And do share with your family and friends – so they don’t miss out!
If you have appreciated this article, don’t forget to share it using the buttons at the bottom of this page. Politics is about everybody – so let’s try to get everybody involved!
Buy Vox Political books so we can continue
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Cruel Britannia is available
in either print or eBook format here:
The Livingstone Presumption is available
in either print or eBook format here:
Health Warning: Government! is now available
in either print or eBook format here:
The first collection, Strong Words and Hard Times,
is still available in either print or eBook format here:
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