North Somerset’s MP Dr Liam Fox has taken more than twice as many trips abroad than he has spoken in the House of Commons over the past 18 months, new research has revealed.

The Tory MP, who has a long history of controversial foreign visits and expenses claims, has made 27 donor-funded trips to 14 different countries since the last general election, clocking up a total of 108 days abroad.

And in the time since the government removed all Covid-19 travel restrictions in March 2022, Dr Fox has made just 28 spoken contributions to Parliament compared to the 72 days he has spent overseas.

North Somerset Labour Party has described the figures as shocking and says they show the need for the constituency to have a new MP with a clear commitment to local issues.

According to the Parliamentary Register of Members’ Interests, 17 different donors have shelled out a total of £122,910 for Dr Fox’s flights and accommodation since August 2021. Costs have reached up to almost £5,000 per night – with the most expensive trip, a four-day visit to the United States funded by the right wing think-tank the Heritage Foundation, coming in at £14,990.

On top of six trips to the US since November 2021, Dr Fox also made four visits to the United Arab Emirates, three to Morocco, and two each to Bahrain, Albania and France. Other countries he has travelled to include Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Paraguay.

Donors for Dr Fox’s trips have included Dr Emad El-Dukair, the founder and CEO of The Care Group, described as ‘a leading player in the public-private partnerships sector’, the Conservative Friends of America, and Abraham Accords UK, which seeks to ‘normalise relations between Israel and the UAE, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan’.

“Whilst Liam Fox spent 108 days on donor-funded trips abroad in the last year, Bristol’s Labour MPs Kerry McCarthy, Darren Jones, Karin Smyth, and Thangam Debbonaire were working hard for their constituents at home,” said North Somerset Labour Party’s Spokesperson Hannah Young. “Darren Jones has taken just one donor-funded trip abroad, whilst McCarthy, Smyth and Debbonaire haven’t take any.”

“We believe North Somerset deserves a Labour MP who will spend their time working hard for their constituents at home and in Westminster, not a representative who spends more time on expensive donor-funded trips abroad,” she added. “Instead of adding to his air miles accounts, Dr Fox should be tackling the many problems facing people in his local area, including the cost-of-living crisis, spiralling energy costs, health care waiting lists, and housing shortages.”

Dr Fox has previously been at the centre of controversy over donations and expenses, with the Good Law Project revealing that he received a £10,000 cash donation in January 2023 from Aquind, a British cabling company controlled by Russian oil tycoon Viktor Fedotov. Earlier this year, the Good Law Project also revealed that Dr Fox had lobbied the Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, on behalf of an advisory group that had paid him £16,000 for just 21 hours’ work, and last year it reported that Dr Fox had lobbied the former Health Secretary, Matt Hancock, on behalf of a Covid testing company called Surescreen Diagnostics. The firm went on to win a £500m contract from Hancock’s department before donating £20,000 to Dr Fox.

In March 2010, Dr Fox admitted breaking parliamentary rules on two occasions by visiting Sri Lanka on a trip paid for by the country’s government without declaring the trip in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests in the required time of 30 days and failing to declare an interest in Sri Lanka when asking ministers how much UK aid had been given to the island nation.

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