The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
South Holland and the Deepings MP Sir John Hayes has taken on another job, with a charity founded and chaired by a Tory donor and that will pay the South Holland and The Deepings MP £24,000 a year for 16 days work.
He’s listed on the Register of Interests for MPs as taking up a role as non-executive director to Esharelife from January 5, 2019 until further notice saying he would promote the charity “set up to support infrastructure and social, cultural, educational and humanitarian projects in some of the most disadvantaged areas of the world”.
Sir John lists that he will be paid £6,000 per quarter for the estimated maximum of 1.5 days work per month and that he received his first payment in January this year.
The Esharelife Foundation was officially registered with the government’s Charity Commission last week on Wednesday, April 24.
It followed articles on the lack of its charity status written by political bloggers including Dr Alex May and Ian Chisnall in the months before it was registered.
The Charity Commission states Esharelife is active in England and Wales and Kenya and its aim is “to prevent or relieve poverty anywhere in the world” and to advance “charitable purposes for the benefit of the poor anywhere in the world for the public benefit as the charity trustees from time to time think fit”.
It continues that Esharelife “makes grants to organisations”. The charity’s website says it ‘partners’ with Italian charity AVSI over work in Kenya.
Sir John told The Voice: “It’s a charity that works predominantly in Africa, particularly to promote education for the most disadvantaged people to help themselves.
“I was very flattered to be asked to be involved in it when I learned that the organisation was working to secure charity status which I’m delighted to say it has now achieved.
“It’s a really good cause and I’ve been particularly struck by the fact they’re working with some people in Africa with disabilities and special needs.
“In some parts of the world these kinds of young people don’t get the attention they should. That was quite a factor in taking the role on.”
Sir John spoke about the work of the charity at its “Second Annual Christmas Party” in December 2018 where he was introduced as the former Minister of State for the Department for Transport according to Esharelife’s Twitter feed which has been active since December 2015.
The charity’s founder and chairman is Maurizio Bragagni who also is the chief executive officer of the manufacturing division of cable-maker Tratos Ltd.
According to The Electoral Commission’s list of reported donations, Tratos Ltd donated £6,000 to the South Holland and The Deepings branch of the Conservative Party on June 28, 2017 among £236,800 cash donations to the party since 2016.
Bragagni, the patron of the Westminster Italian Conservatives group, is listed by the commission as also having donated £180,000 under his own name to the Conservative Party since 2015.
There is no suggestion of illegal activity and like all previous roles Sir John’s taken on since leaving the cabinet, his role at Esharelife has been ratified by the government’s Advisory Committee on Business Appointments which looks at whether former ministers should take up paid positions.
Their report recommending he can take the Esharelife role states: “When considering this application the committee took in account that this appointment has no connection with your last ministerial role at the Department for Transport. It particularly noted you had no prior dealings with Esharelife. It is aware of no prior dealings with Esharelife.”
As previously reported in The Voice, on top of his £77,379 basic MPs wage, from last September Sir John has been acting as a strategic adviser to oil wholesalers BB Energy Trading for which he “expects to receive £50,000 a year in return for an estimated commitment of between 80 and 90 hours of work”.
From last May he’s been the president of Highbury Burton Saudi Arabia (HBSA) which runs the International Technical Female College in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia expecting to receive £20,000 a year for between 40 and 50 hours of work.
From July to November he’d previously been an advisor to the Chartered Institute for Further Education which the Register of Interests for MPS expected to receive £15,000 a year for an estimated commitment of between 100 and 120 hours work.
Esharelife has not responded to an email request for a quote and there was no answer at a phone number given for the charity on The Charity Commission website.
