Exclusive: MPs found to hold ‘in effect secret’ stock in listed firms from banks to housebuilders
- Wife of Tory MP who criticised windfall tax on oil firms has £50,000 in BP shares
- Attorney general and close family hold £130,000 in shares in six FTSE 100 firms
- Which UK MPs own shares in publicly listed companies?
More than 50 MPs have owned stakes in publicly listed companies that raise questions about possible conflicts of interest and that until now have been in effect secret, the Guardian can reveal.
Parliamentary rules mean MPs’ shareholdings, including ones that were held by the former prime minister Theresa May and the former education secretary Gavin Williamson, do not need to be publicly disclosed in parliamentary registers. But as a result voters are left in the dark about some of the financial interests of their elected representatives.