Tory MP Steve Brine faces calls to step down from health role amid claims he lobbied the NHS on behalf of recruitment firm that paid him £200 an hour for consultancy role
- Brine, 49, accused of lobbying the head of the NHS on behalf of Remedium
- Recruitment firm was paying him £1,600 for eight hours work a month at time
A senior Tory MP has been urged to quit a senior health role after Parliament’s Standards Commissioner launched a sleaze probe into claims he lobbied the NHS for a firm paying him £200 an hour.
Steve Brine, the Winchester MP, was urged to step down as chairman of the Commons Health Committee during the investigation into his links with a recruitment company.
Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, Daniel Greenberg has confirmed he is looking into allegations that Mr Brine, 49, lobbied the head of the NHS on behalf of Remedium.
At the time in early 2021 the company was paying him £1,600 per month for eight hours work as a consultant.
The former health minister complained that he had been ‘trying for months’ to persuade the health service to take on anaesthetists via the firm, according to The Daily Telegraph.
The details were revealed in the tranche of leaked WhatsApp messages from former health secretary Matt Hancock published by the paper.
Liberal Democrat health spokeswoman Daisy Cooper MP said: ‘Steve Brine should immediately step down from the Health Committee whilst this investigation takes places.
Steve Brine, the Winchester MP, was urged to step down as chairman of the Commons Health Committee during the investigation into his links with a recruitment company.
Liberal Democrat health spokeswoman Daisy Cooper MP said: ‘Steve Brine should immediately step down from the Health Committee whilst this investigation takes places.
‘It is absurd for an MP who may have wrongly lobbied the NHS to now be in charge of holding them to account.’
According to the Telegraph, Mr Brine contacted Michael Gove – the then Cabinet Office minister – in early 2021, in the midst of the pandemic, seeking his help after he had tried to raise the issue with NHS England chief executive Simon (now Lord) Stevens.
In a message to Mr Gove he wrote: ‘Dear Michael … sorry to raise this but having tried the Dept of Health (seemed logical) and the Chief Exec of NHSE (ditto) I am at a loss.
‘Long story short, I have been trying for months to help the NHS through a company I am connected with – called Remedium.
‘They have 50 anaesthetists right now who can be in the country and on the ground in the NHS if someone only said let us help. They just want to assist and asked me how they might.
‘Despite offering this to health and to Simon Stevens I’ve had nothing despite SS telling the press conference last week this is an acute problem, despite the PM telling the Liaison Committee this is his biggest problem etc etc.
‘How might I progress this or does the NHS just not need the help?’
On February 2, Mr Gove forwarded the message to Mr Hancock who replied: ‘Weird – he hasn’t texted me’. He added a short time later: ‘This is already in hand. Thanks for pinging on’.
According to the Telegraph, Remedium had been paying Mr Brine £1,600 for eight hours’ work each month since July 2020 – an arrangement that continued until the end of December 2021.
Under Parliament’s rules, MPs are not allowed to lobby for any organisation they are being paid by for six months after their last remuneration.
It was a breach of this ban on paid lobbying which led to the resignation of former Tory minister Owen Paterson in 2021.
In addition, under Government rules former ministers are banned from using contacts from their time in government to lobby for two years after leaving office.
Labour Party chair Anneliese Dodds had referred the matter to the Standards Commissioner.
Mr Brine, the MP for Winchester, told the Telegraph: ‘This was about responding in the national interest to an urgent public call from ministers and the NHS in a national crisis even if, ultimately, it led nowhere let alone secure any business for Remedium.’
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