Susanna Reid took Robert Jenrick to task over a £75,000 donation he received from a firm that has never made a profit and received money from a firm registered in the British Virgin Islands (BVI) after the Tory leadership hopeful publicly decried Labour for taking freebies.
The former immigration minister was grilled about donations from The Spott Fitness, which have been declared on his MPs’ register of interests after they handed him three separate £25,000 donations in July.
According to Companies House records, The Spott Fitness has no employees and net current liabilities of £330,000. It has two directors – Mark Dembovsky and Benjamin Hodson.
Earlier this year it registered a loan from Centrovalli, a firm based in the British Virgin Islands, though the amount borrowed has not been declared.
Responding to questions regarding the donations, Jenrick said: “As I understand it, this is a fitness company that operates in the UK.
“It’s a perfectly legal and valid donation under British law and we’ve set it out in the public domain in the way that one does with donations.”
Pressed for details on who owns the company and who works for it, the former immigration minister said this would be set out “on Companies House in the normal way” and he has “obviously met people who are involved in the company”.
Jenrick has been vocal about the donations Labour has received and has criticised their “rank hypocrisy” after it emerged Sir Keir Starmer accepted over £100,000 in gifts since 2019, while a donor at the centre of the row briefly held a pass to Downing Street.
“They spent years complaining about other political parties and then they’ve chosen to take off donors and cronies and to give passes to Number 10 in response,” Mr Jenrick said.
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