Boris Johnson ‘promised James Dyson he would fix tax issue’

Boris Johnson personally assured Sir James Dyson that the billionaire inventor’s workers would not need to pay further tax in the event that they got here to the UK to make ventilators throughout the pandemic, it has been reported, within the newest case to lift considerations about lobbying.

Dyson, an outspoken Brexiter who moved his firm to Singapore, initially wrote to the Treasury however after not receiving a reply exchanged textual content messages with the prime minister through which Johnson pledged: “I will fix it tomo! We need you. It looks fantastic.”

The prime minister then texted him once more, saying: “[Chancellor] Rishi [Sunak] says it is fixed!! We need you here,” according to the BBC.

When Dyson then sought an extra assurance, Johnson replied: “James, I am first lord of the Treasury and you can take it that we are backing you to do what you need.”

Two weeks later, Sunak advised the Commons Treasury committee that the tax standing of people that got here to the UK to supply particular assist throughout the pandemic would not be affected.

The alternate passed off in March 2020 at first of the pandemic when the federal government was interesting to corporations to provide ventilators amid fears of shortages.

On Tuesday, the tradition secretary, Oliver Dowden insisted Johnson had acted appropriately, given the context.

“James Dyson came forward with a proposal that didn’t benefit him and it certainly didn’t benefit the prime minister personally and said, ‘Look, if we can get our people across here and they’re not penalised for it, they’ll be able to help with a ventilator challenge,’” he advised BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

“That helped with the ventilator challenge. We massively increased the number of ventilators and as a consequence, saved possibly thousands of lives. I think it was the right thing to do in the middle of a national emergency.”

Asked whether or not the nationwide emergency meant the ministerial code was suspended, and subsequently the prime minister might textual content a senior businessman with out officers being current or a document of the alternate being stored, Dowden stated: “The normal rules existed but we had to move at pace.”

The BBC reported that Dyson’s firm later shared the texts with officers however it’s unclear whether or not Johnson flagged the exchanges as the foundations recommend he ought to.

A Whitehall supply stated Dyson didn’t textual content Rishi Sunak immediately and that the one correspondence acquired by the Treasury was official letters from Dyson’s holding firm, Weybourne, asking Sunak for assurances on their tax standing.

The Treasury later wrote again to substantiate what Johnson had promised Dyson. Another Whitehall supply stated there was “a process to be followed” – a touch that the Treasury might not have been ready to make comparable casual assurances as Dyson acquired from No 10.

There is rising concern at Westminster over lobbying following the disclosures of David Cameron’s activities on behalf of the failed finance agency, Greensill Capital.

In response to that,Johnson ordered a review by the senior lawyer Nigel Boardman.

A Labour celebration spokesman stated: “These are jaw-dropping revelations. Boris Johnson is now front and centre of the biggest lobbying scandal in a generation, and Tory sleaze has reached the heart of Downing Street … Boris Johnson must now agree to a full, transparent and independent inquiry into lobbying – and end the scandal of Conservative politicians abusing taxpayer money.”

On 9 April, two weeks after the reported alternate of texts between Johnson and Dyson, Sunak advised the Treasury choose committee group that the tax standing of people that got here to the UK to supply particular assist throughout the pandemic would not be affected.

Dyson advised the BBC he was “hugely proud” of his agency’s response in “the midst of a national emergency”, and that he would do the identical once more if requested.

He stated: “When the prime minister rang me to ask Dyson to urgently build ventilators, of course I said yes.

“Our ventilator cost Dyson £20m, freely given to the national cause, and it is absurd to suggest that the urgent correspondence was anything other than seeking compliance with rules, as 450 Dyson people – in UK and Singapore – worked around the clock, seven days a week to build potentially life-saving equipment at a time of dire need.

“Mercifully, they were not required, as medical understanding of the virus evolved. Neither Weybourne [Dyson’s holding company] nor Dyson received any benefit from the project; indeed commercial projects were delayed, and Dyson voluntarily covered the £20m of development costs.”

Dyson additionally stated his firm had not claimed “one penny” from governments in any jurisdiction in relation to Covid.