British MPs went on 53 foreign trips paid for by despotic regimes last year

British MPs accepted tens of thousands of pounds in hospitality from despotic regimes last year, an analysis of Parliament’s register of interest shows.

Politicians from across all the main parties registered a total of £172,561 worth of flights, hotels, and other similar gifts from countries widely considered “not free” in 2016.

The 53 separate payments in kind were typically for “fact-finding” missions arranged and funded by the host regimes. 41 junkets were accepted by Conservative MPs, seven by Labour MPs, four by SNP MPs, and one by a Liberal Democrat.

A total of eight separate countries with autocratic governments provided such gifts: Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates.

The biggest single donor country was Qatar, an apparent sign of the country ramping up its lobbying and propaganda campaigns ahead of its hosting of the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

The Middle East state, which is governed by sharia law, flogs women who have illicit sex and by law imprisons people who preach any religion other than Islam. It is governed by an absolute monarchy and has constitution based on sharia law.

The US State Department says foreign workers are routinely subject to forced labour in Qatar, sometimes including prostitution, having had their passports confiscated. Such labour is reportedly being used to construct stadia for the coming World Cup.

Close behind Qatar the second biggest donor country is Saudi Arabia. The British government has continued to sign off billions in arms sales to the autocratic petro-state despite widespread reports of that is committing war crimes in its military campaign in Yemen.

This week the High Court will hear a case brought by arms control campaigners calling for a halt to the arms sales to the regime. MPs on the Arms Export Control Committee were previously split on whether the Government should stop the sales..

Andrew Smith of Campaign Against Arms Trade said: “MPs should not be taking hospitality from regimes with appalling human rights records. This is lobbying plain and simple. These despots aren’t paying for transport and flashy hotels because they’re nice people, they’re doing it because they want to win friends and buy influence.”

“At a time when UK bombs are creating a humanitarian catastrophe in Yemen, it is time for a total overhaul in UK foreign policy, not for closer relationships with dictatorships and human rights abusers.”

Some MPs have previously defended going on such trips, stating that engagement with countries with poor records would help bring about political change.

Donations either came from branches of government or in two cases, organisations with very close links to their respective governments. Countries that were listed “not free” by US NGO Freedom House were considered not free for this analysis, which was conducted jointly by The Independent and Campaign Against the Arms Trade.

Donations from Saudi Arabia came from the country’s Ministry for Foreign Affairs, as did donations from Qatar and Bahrain. Donations from Egypt came from a mix of its ministry of foreign affairs and its Parliament.

Donations from Kazakhstan came directly from the country’s Government. Donations from Jordan came from the country’s parliament.

Donations from Azerbaijan came from the country’s embassy and an organisation called The European Azerbaijan Society, which is headed by the son of a powerful government minister.

Donations from the UAE came from its ministry of foreign affairs, and in some cases from Falcon Associates, which says it works on behalf of the Dubai leadership and whose honorary president is a government minister.