Majority of politicians fail to register personal interests on time, breaking Tynwald rules

A Manx Radio investigation has found MHKs, and MLCs are not adhering to the protocol which require them to register personal interests within a specified timeframe

Seventy percent of political members are in breach of Tynwald regulations on registering personal interests, with some failing to register an interest for years after its inception.

However, 15 percent of Tynwald members have registered all their interests on time, and eight members notified the Isle of Man’s parliament in advance of an interest officially arising.

Since the recording of both the date a personal interest arose and the date it was registered began to be collected, 85 entries passed Tynwald requirements of registering within a one month period.

The number of entries which failed to comply is 96.

Furthermore, 188 entries do not declare the date the interest arose and instead only the date Tynwald was notified, making it impossible to know if the rules were adhered to.

An interest is defined as a personal reason for undertaking an official role or having a stake within a business, society, or other organisation, which could impact the way in which they carry out their duties.

Gifts and donations also create an interest, although the benefitting party may not have an ongoing role or financial stake.

According to Tynwald Standing Order Annex 7, members must register an interest “within one month” of the date it becomes active.

Members of the House of Keys and Legislative Council are also expected to register any new interest in advance of any debate in Tynwald Court.

What does it all mean and why does it matter?

Personal interests of politicians are of public interest because they could change the way they carry out their duties or the way they vote in a political capacity.

MHKs are elected representatives of one of 12 constituencies which make up the entirety of the Isle of Man’s population, and their main purpose is to serve their constituents.

Hypothetically, if an elected person chose to act or vote in a way which satisfies their own personal stake in a business, society, or organisation, and not be in the best interests of their constituency, this would create a ‘conflict of interest’.

Politicians are expected to publicly announce their personal interests as part of efforts to be accountable and transparent to both the public and their political colleagues.  They do this by way of informing the Tynwald Registrar who adds it to a “members’ interests” list, which is available online.

In sittings of the House of Keys or Tynwald, on occasion, members will declare an interest in front of their peers before asking a question or making a statement.  However, this does not replace the requirement for declaring the interest with the Clerk of Tynwald – who is the registrar.

Which politicians are not declaring interests on time?

It is important to note that there is no evidence to suggest any member is intentionally flouting the rules.

Manx Radio attempted to find out if there are any accusations or active investigations of wrongdoing in relation to a conflict of interest, but was told the Tynwald Standards and Members' Interests Committee is not obligated to report if they are carrying out any investigation.

However, the Clerk of Tynwald's office has confirmed that since the register was set up in 2003, there have been no sanctions issued to members over a failure to declare an interest.

House of Keys

Ramsey MHK and Treasury Minister Alex Allinson

• 19 personal interests registered on time
• 3 personal interests registered outside of the specified timeframe

Douglas East MHK and Environment, Food and Agriculture Minister Clare Barber

• 6 personal interests registered on time
• 11 personal interests registered outside of the specified timeframe

Garff MHK and Education, Sport and Culture Minister Daphne Caine

• 10 personal interests registered on time
• 4 personal interests registered outside of the specified timeframe

Douglas South MHK Claire Christian

• 5 personal interests registered on time
• 6 personal interests registered outside of the specified timeframe

Douglas Central MHK Ann Corlett

• 0 personal interests registered on time
• 2 personal interests registered outside of the specified timeframe

Onchan MHK Julie Edge

• 0 personal interests registered on time
• 5 personal interests registered outside of the specified timeframe

Douglas East MHK Joney Faragher

• 0 personal interests registered on time
• 3 personal interests registered outside of the specified timeframe

Rushen MHK Michelle Haywood

• 9 personal interests registered on time
• 4 personal interests registered outside of the specified timeframe

Glenfaba and Peel MHK and Cabinet Office Minister Kate Lord-Brennan

• 0 personal interests registered on time
• 1 personal interest registered outside of the specified timeframe

Douglas South MHK Sarah Maltby

• 8 personal interests registered on time
• 3 personal interests registered outside of the specified timeframe

Arbory, Castletown and Malew MHK Jason Moorhouse

• 0 personal interests registered on time
• 3 personal interests registered outside of the specified timeframe

Douglas Central MHK Chris Thomas

• 1 personal interest registered on time
• 12 personal interests registered outside of the specified timeframe

Douglas North MHK John Wannenburgh

• 14 personal interests registered on time
• 1 personal interest registered outside of the specified timeframe

Rushen MHK and Speaker of the House of Keys Juan Watterson

• 3 personal interests registered on time
• 2 personal interests registered outside of the specified timeframe

Middle MHK Stu Peters

• 1 personal interest registered on time
• 1 personal interest registered outside of the specified timeframe

Glenfaba and Peel MHK and Infrastructure Minister Tim Crookall

• 0 personal interests registered on time
• 6 personal interests registered outside of the specified timeframe

Legislative Council

Tanya August-Hanson MLC

• 2 personal interest registered on time
• 4 personal interests registered outside of the specified timeframe

Peter Greenhill MLC

• 0 personal interests registered on time
• 7 personal interests registered outside of the specified timeframe

Robert William (Bill) Henderson MLC

• 0 personal interests registered on time
• 1 personal interest registered outside of the specified timeframe

Dawn Kinnish MLC

• 1 personal interests registered on time
• 9 personal interests registered outside of the specified timeframe

Robert Mercer MLC

• 3 personal interests registered on time
• 2 personal interests registered outside of the specified timeframe

Kerry Sharpe MLC

• 2 personal interest registered on time
• 4 personal interests registered outside of the specified timeframe

President of Tynwald Laurence Skelly MLC

• 1 personal interest registered on time
• 2 personal interests registered outside of the specified timeframe

Manx Radio has approached all Tynwald members who are not named in this list to ask if their members’ interest’s entries are up to date.

MHKs and MLCs who do not appear on this list, appear to be in compliance with the rules.

However, some have not registered an interest in years – some approaching a decade since their last entry.

Right of reply

All Tynwald members named in this list have been approached for interview.  Some have declined, others wrote a statement, and the remainder did not respond. 

Alex Allinson declined to comment or be interviewed: “I do not think it is necessary for me to make a comment on this issue or take part in an interview.”

Sarah Maltby provided Manx Radio with the following statement: “In my attempt to be fully transparent I have inadvertently triggered a discrepancy with the Tynwald Standing Order Annex 7.

“I regret the one occasion I have not been timely in my responsibility to update the register. It is very important that a register of members interests is publicly available.”

Rob Mercer did not provide a statement directly to Manx Radio and posted on social media: “I can see that in 2021 I was late registering a number of my interests. My subsequent interests have been declared on time.  Timely declaration of members interests is important.  It's one of the crucial steps to maintain transparency and integrity in any organisation.”

Daphne Caine provided the following statement: “I am confident none has been a conflict in any of my parliamentary or department duties, and in any event, any interest would have received appropriate acknowledgement at the time.”

Claire Christian provided the following statement: “I did not register ‘Trustee: Ellan Vannin’s Victim’s Service (112 days)’ within the required 1 month time frame.  I apologise for that and would be happy to apologise in parliament if I was required to do so.”

Clare Barber conducted an interview:

Jason Moorhouse conducted an interview:

Juan Watterson conducted an interview:

Michelle Haywood provided a statement: “I am aware that some of my entries were made after the one-month time frame, which was an oversight on my part. With regards to the tickets for the Awards for Excellence, these tickets are offered to all Tynwald members and therefore do not need to be declared as they are not specific to me, and therefore not solely my interest.  So even though the declarations were made late, I could legitimately have not declared them at all.  I am very careful with all my parliamentary and government roles to make clear when any possible conflict of interests is relevant to any discussion or debate.”

Joney Faragher provided a statement: “Declaration of the donation and MLP affiliation during the campaign was properly disclosed to the Returning Officer and the Central Registry. However, it wasn't automatically carried over to the Tynwald Register, which I was unaware of.  Declaration of the donation is probably unnecessary, as it happened during the campaign & was properly disclosed as part of that process - I don’t know if any MHK has declared campaign donations on the register. However, it was declared as a ‘belts and braces’ action once I realised that declarations to the Central Registry weren’t carried over. With regard to being appointed Director of Cruse Bereavement Support, declaring outside of the expected timeframe was an oversight on my part.  However, this was publicly disclosed by myself and Cruse at the time of appointment.”

Stu Peters provided a statement: "I have had few things arise that needed to be listed, but if they did I advised the Clerk of Tynwald’s office as appropriate and (I think) in a timely manner."

Analysis

Manx Radio’s Christian Jones sat down with political correspondent Phil Gawne to discuss the findings:

What next?

Tynwald instructed the Standards and Members’ Interests Committee to review its procedures and submit a report to the court by the last day of January 2024.

Publication was delayed by several months and was released in April 2024.

In the committee’s annual report, it says “the Clerk of Tynwald shall be responsible to the committee for maintaining the register [of members’ interests] and for giving effect to the rules”.

Manx Radio approached the Clerk of Tynwald for comment who responded with the following statement:

"The enforcement of the Register of Members’ Interests’ Rules is a political matter. As with other Members’ conduct issues and consistent with its remit in Standing Orders, the Tynwald Standards and Members’ Interests Committee operates on a complaint-led basis. 

"I would agree that timely registration is, in principle, critical to the success of the Registration. On the other hand, as some of the Members you have interviewed have explained, there can be changes over time as to which matters may affect, or reasonably be perceived as affecting, a Member’s judgement on the way in which they may carry out their duties.

"The system must therefore, in principle, have the flexibility to adapt to changing circumstances. It would be a perverse outcome if the existence and application of the one-month deadline in Rule 2(a) were to sway a Member against registering a “borderline” interest for fear of being criticised for lateness.

"Furthermore it may be relevant in some circumstances that the one-month deadline in Rule 2(a) applies “unless there is good reason to the contrary”. In other words the Rules allow Members a “reasonable excuse” defence to any accusation of late registration.
You say that there are 188 entries which do not specify the date the interest arose, instead giving only the date that the Registrar was informed; and you enquire why this is.

"Before 20 June 2017 the Rules required that interests be notified to the Registrar using “Form A” and that their cessation be notified using “Form B”. Copies of Forms A and B, extracted from a publication of 2016 (PP 2016/0133), are attached. On 20 June 2017 Forms A and B were formally removed from the Rules. Until 19 January 2021, however, the Rules still required interests to be registered by the submission of a signed hard copy notification to the Clerk of Tynwald. As a result, the forms continued to be used by some Members. On 19 January 2021 Tynwald approved amendments to the Rules designed to ensure that notifications could be received by the Registrar in any form convenient to the Member, including by email. After that, use of the forms dwindled further.

"Form A did not require the user to identify separately the date on which an interest had arisen and the date on which it was registered. It follows that, for interests registered using Form A, the Registrar did not routinely collect the dates on which interests arose, as distinct from the dates on which they were notified to the Registrar. Self-evidently I cannot publish on the Register information which I do not have.

"The January 2021 resolution was followed by a restructuring of the way in which the Register was presented on the Tynwald website. As part of the restructure four columns were introduced for each interest: date arose, date notified to Registrar, date ceased, and date cessation notified. Since the introduction of the four columns, separate information in these four categories has been collected, recorded and presented in a more consistent manner. For this reason, more recent entries are more likely to include distinct dates for an interest arising and it being notified to the Registrar.

"As Mr Speaker has told you in his interview, the Tynwald Standards and Members’ Interests Committee is reviewing the Register of Members’ Interests Rules and their operation. Your findings will be taken into account as part of that review."