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Brian Binley MP: 'We have to be careful, politicians scrounge all the time'
MPs enjoy lavish hospitality at the expense of the British taxpayer and a Maltese bank
On a taxpayer-funded trip to Malta, as he enjoyed the hospitality of a bank and prepared to attend a complimentary open-air concert that evening, Brian Binley MP was alerted to the presence of a local politician wandering nearby.
"You see, we are totally corrupt," he said to one of his hosts.
Earlier, when speaking to a businessman who had sponsored a private party on the Mediterranean island, he noted that parliamentarians "scrounge you all the time" and were "political hangers on".
Mr Binley attended a drinks party hosted by the Bank of Valletta before being treated to an open air concert in the Maltese capital featuring Rebecca Ferguson, a runner-up on The X Factor, and Joseph Calleja, a Maltese tenor.
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Mr Binley had accompanied Mark Pritchard, the Conservative MP for Wrekin, on an official visit to the island.
Both are members of the all-party parliamentary group for Malta.
Mr Binley said the visit was funded by the taxpayer.
During the VIP party, the MPs met the Maltese prime minister, Joseph Muscat, government ministers and MEPs, as well as senior members of the bank.
It is understood that the Bank of Valletta gave the MPs two free tickets for the event, but that Mr Pritchard also obtained two tickets for the concert from a friend.
Mr Binley told the local businessmen that he would speak positively about the event's sponsor when he returned home.
"We will talk about the bank of Malta won't we? ... Bank of Valletta, sorry. And we will say what a wonderful organisation it is," he said.
He also offered to "repay" his hosts' hospitality if they came to London.
The disclosures will add to concerns that some MPs are too close to businesses that want to promote their interests in Britain.
On Wednesday The Telegraph disclosed that Mr Pritchard offered to use his political contacts to set up business deals with foreign officials and ministers in return for payments totalling hundreds of thousands of pounds.
Full story Telegraph.