Millionaire Andrew Griffith accepted discounted ski passes and guiding, as well as hospitality before taking his wife to BAFTAs after being handed £4,000 tickets
Kemi Badenoch’s shadow business secretary took the piste enjoying luxury ski resort freebies – before bagging £4,000 BAFTAs tickets with his wife.
Millionaire Tory Andrew Griffith accepted discounted Davos ski passes and guiding as well as hospitality worth £1,297 in January. Only the next month he took his spouse to the star-studded BAFTAs thanks to a four-figure freebie for entry with hospitality.
It comes after Badenoch accused Labour of hypocrisy over accepting freebies when she was running to become Conservative leader over the summer. She argued her party’s condemnation of Labour politicians was fair “because they were taking these freebies not to do their job”.
Griffith — science minister under Rishi Sunak — attended the 69th annual British-Swiss Parliamentary Ski week in early January where he was pictured posing on the slopes.
A group photo showed him clad in a red jacket, helmet and snazzy goggles standing with a pair of skis. Disgraced former PM Liz Truss was snapped there too despite losing her seat at the general election. Some 26 Parliamentarians are said to have got to the finish line in the giant slalom race “in glorious weather”.
Arundel and South Downs MP Griffith accepted discounted ski passes and guiding for two valued at £973 thanks to Landschaft Davos. He also enjoyed hospitality for two courtesy of Skigruppe der Bundesversammlung worth £324 on the five-day jaunt from January 1 to 5. The MP said he paid other costs, according to the register for members’ financial interests. The purpose of the visit was listed as: “Participation in 69th Annual British-Swiss Parliamentary ski week.”
Then the following month on February 16 he took his wife Barbara to the British Academy Film Awards hosted by David Tennant at the Royal Festival Hall in London. The two tickets with hospitality were valued at £4,000 and came courtesy of NBC Universal, sister company of his former employer Sky where he worked as group chief operating officer. Conclave picked up the best film gong, with Adrien Brody and Mikey Madison winning best leading actor and actress awards.
In July 2019, it emerged Griffith let then Tory leadership frontrunner Boris Johnson use his £9.5million Westminster townhouse. In 2023, the MP was left red-faced when challenged over his personal wealth by a Question Time audience member who suggested he could not understand the cost-of-living crisis.
Two other Tory MPs also took freebies on the Parliamentary ski week in Switzerland. A spokesperson for Griffith said: “Both events were properly declared in accordance with Parliamentary rules, and both were also attended by Labour politicians. It is a positive that accomplished businesspeople like Andrew are willing to serve in Parliament. If the Labour Cabinet had more business experience perhaps next week we wouldn’t be having an emergency budget.”
The Mirror has found no evidence of Labour MPs registering freebies for either of the events this year. The Conservative Party and Truss were contacted for comment.