Downing Street DROPS plan to pay Liz Truss’s chief of staff through his own lobbying firm amid anger that it ‘could help him pay less tax’
- No10 said Mark Fullbrook would become a direct government employee
- He was previously paid six-figure salary via his lobbying company
- Critics said deal could allow him to lower his tax bill, something he denied doing
Downing Street has U-turned over a pay deal for Liz Truss’s chief of staff that saw him paid as a contractor through his lobbying firm.
No10 said Mark Fullbrook would now become a direct employee of Liz Truss’s government days after defending the set up which treated him as on ‘secondment’ from Fullbrook Strategies.
Usually special advisers are paid directly as employees and their salary is liable for income tax. Mr Fullbrook’s predecessor as chief of staff under Boris Johnson was paid £140,000.
But being paid via his firm could potentially lower his tax bill. He denied setting up the system for this purpose.
No 10’s spokesperson on Tuesday said: ‘While there are established arrangements for employees to join government on secondment, to avoid any ongoing speculation Mark Fullbrook will be employed directly by the government on a special adviser contract.
‘All government employees, including those joining on secondment, are subject to the necessary checks and vetting, and all special advisers declare their interests in line with Cabinet Office guidance.’
Downing Street has U-turned over a pay deal for Liz Truss’s chief of staff Mark Fullbrook that saw him paid as a contractor through his lobbying firm.
No10 said Mark Fullbrook would become a direct employee of Liz Truss’s government days after defending the set up which treated him as a on ‘secondment’ from Fullbrook Strategies.
Under the contractor arrangement Mr Fullbrook would also be a potential beneficiary of changes to tax accounting for contract workers unveiled by Kwasi Kwarteng on Friday in his mini-Budget.
Controversial reforms to IR35 accounting rules will be scrapped as part of a package of measures to simplify the tax system.
The Cabinet Office had previously said it was ‘not unusual’ for a special adviser to join Government ‘on secondment’ and that his salary was paid to a ‘seconding company’.
But the arrangement drew accusations of renewed ‘Tory sleaze’ from opposition parties.
A spokesman for Mr Fullbrook previously denied speculation that the arrangement allows him to pay less tax.
The spokesman said: ‘This is not an unusual arrangement. It was not put in place for tax purposes and Mr Fullbrook derives no tax benefit from it.’
Liberal Democrat chief whip Wendy Chamberlain said: ‘This U-turn raises more questions than it does answers, including about Liz Truss’ judgement.
‘Why did Number 10 spend days trying to defend this appointment only to backtrack when it came under scrutiny?’
The Sunday Times reported that Mr Fullbrook’s company, which he says has now suspended commercial activities, contacted the Government on behalf of clients including the Libyan House of Representatives, an energy provider and a PPE firm.
Mr Fullbrook has already been in the headlines since starting his role as the most senior political appointee in government two weeks ago.
It emerged last week he was questioned as a witness as part of a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) inquiry into alleged bribery in Puerto Rico.
The FBI probe relates to allegations that financier and Tory donor Julio Herrera Velutini promised to help the former governor of Puerto Rico get re-elected if she dismissed an official investigating a bank he owned there.
He has denied the allegations against him.
Mr Velutini is alleged to have paid CT Group, a political consultancy firm in which Mr Fullbrook was a senior figure, 300,000 US dollars (almost £263,000) for work intended to help Wanda Vazquez Garced’s ultimately unsuccessful re-election campaign in 2020.
A Downing Street spokesperson previously said Ms Truss stood 100 per cent behind Mr Fullbrook and ‘he has her full support’.
Source: Read Full Article
