LONDON
\nQatar has spent more money on gifts and trips for British MPs in the past year than any other country, indicating its lobbying efforts ahead of next month\u2019s football World Cup, The Observer reported.
\nAs of October 2022, the Qatari government had given gifts to members of parliament totaling \u00a3251,208 in the previous year, including luxury-hotel stays, business-class flights, and horse-racing tickets, The Observer analysis found.
\nTheir combined value was greater than that of the 15 other countries whose governments made donations to British MPs, and six times the amount given to MPs by the UAE, the second-largest foreign government donor.
\nQatar\u2019s generosity over the past year surpassed that of any other year, signaling an attempt to woo British politicians ahead of the World Cup. Records show MPs declared about \u00a3100,000 worth of gifts and hospitality from Qatar in the five years to October 2021, but more than double that in the past 12 months alone.
\nAnalyzing declarations in the MPs register of interests, Observer found that 34 MPs declared 40 donations from Qatar in the year to October 2022. Of those, 22 MPs were Tory, seven were Labour, three were SNP and two were independent.
\nMost of the money was spent on trips to Qatar for members of the Qatar all-party parliamentary group (APPG) to meet ministers and government officials, The Observer reported.
\nThe informal parliamentary group stated that it played \u201can active role in scrutinizing all aspects of UK-Qatar relations, including human rights, ethics, education, energy and infrastructure.\u201d
\nTransparency logs show that British MPs visited Qatar twice, in October 2021 and February 2022, to discuss issues such as \u201cWorld Cup preparations, workers\u2019 rights reform, and bilateral relations,\u201d as well as Qatar\u2019s \u201chumanitarian and political response to the Afghanistan crisis.\u201d
\nThe Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs paid for the all-inclusive trips, which cost between \u00a37,000 and \u00a38,000 per person for flights, hotels and meals over the course of a seven-day trip, The Observer reported.
\nA source told The Observer that MPs on one trip were housed in luxury hotels with \u201cvast swimming pools\u201d and flew business class on Qatar Airways. Some MPs were taken to a camel race and had a private dinner with officials involved in the FIFA World Cup.
\nThe source said that MPs gave officials \u201ctwo barrels worth\u201d over issues, but that they were \u201cslick and charming\u201d with a clear goal \u201cto improve Qatar\u2019s reputation in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
LONDON Qatar has spent more money on gifts and trips for British MPs in the past year than any other country, indicating its lobbying efforts ahead of next month\u2019s football World Cup, The Observer reported. As of October 2022, the Qatari government had given gifts to members of parliament totaling \u00a3251,208 in the previous year, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":292797,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-292784","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n