Bank of England quizzed over whether wannabe Labour MP employee joined Greenpeace demo dressed as a zombie when he should have been at the office
- Tory MP urges Bank Governor to probe Alistair Stathern’s links to eco-group
A Tory MP has quizzed the Bank of England about an employee and Labour parliamentary candidate who posed as a zombie during a Greeenpeace protest.
Danny Kruger has urged Andrew Bailey, the Bank’s Governor, to probe Alistair Strathern’s involvement with the environmental campaign group.
Mr Strathern, who is set to stand for Labour in a by-election in Mid Bedfordshire, works as ‘climate lead for insurance’ at Threadneedle Street.
The 33-year-old was recently unmasked as an eco-activist who posed as a zombie during a Greenpeace protest outside the Home Office in November last year.
Mr Kruger has now sent a series of questions about Mr Strathern in a letter to Mr Bailey, including whether he was allowed to leave work in the middle of the day to join the stunt.
The row over Mr Strathern’s links to Greenpeace comes after a group of eco-activists scaled the roof of Rishi Sunak’s Yorkshire mansion and unfurled Greenpeace banners.
The demonstrators were arrested following their widely-condemned action at the Prime Minister’s private family home.
Labour candidate Alistair Strathern was recently unmasked as an eco-activist who posed as a zombie during a Greenpeace protest outside the Home Office in November last year
Mr Strathern, who is also a Bank of England employee, is pictured smiling alongside Sir Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner last month
Tory MP Danny Kruger has urged Andrew Bailey, the Bank of England’s Governor, to probe Mr Strathern’s involvement with the environmental campaign group
Mr Kruger (right) has sent a series of questions about Mr Strathern in a letter to Mr Bailey (left)
Tory Cabinet minister Grant Shapps this week accused Sir Keir Starmer of ‘plotting to put eco-fanatics in Parliament’ as he urged the Labour leader to ‘stand up for Britain’ and ditch Mr Strathern as a parliamentary candidate.
In his letter to Mr Bailey, Devizes MP Mr Kruger – a former Downing Street aide to Boris Johnson – claimed Mr Stathern ‘may have committed a breach of the Bank of England’s guidance on impartiality’ by joining the November 2022 stunt.
He pointed to how a photograph issued by Greenpeace from their protest outside the Home Office was taken at 10.30am on a Tuesday.
Mr Kruger asked: ‘Can you confirm Mr Strathern received permission to leave work in the middle of the day to perform this protest attacking the Government?
‘Can you confirm what the Bank of England’s policy is on employees taking leave to perform stunts in the middle of the working day?’
Mr Kruger highlighted how the Bank’s code of conduct ‘sets out that employees must support the Bank in its work to ensure it remains respected as an apolitical body and avoid any suggestion that the Bank’s decisions are inappropriately influenced’.
He claimed Mr Strathern had ‘failed in his duty to avoid any suggestion that the Bank is being inappropriately influenced’.
He also urged Mr Bailey to ‘investigate this case fully and provide me with an assessment of Mr Strathern’s actions and whether his conduct breaches Bank of England guidelines’.
‘Given these concerns, questions should be asked about whether Mr Strathern has made all the appropriate declarations set out in the Bank of England’s code of conduct in relation to his selection as the Labour candidate in the Mid Bedfordshire by-election?,’ he added.
‘For example, can you rule out he was not meeting senior members of the opposition or far-left protest groups during his working day at the Bank of England?’
Mr Strathern’s profile on LinkedIn states he has been employed by the Bank of England since September last year, while he has also been a Labour councillor in Waltham Forest since 2014.
He previously worked in banking and studied PPE at Oxford, where hw was co-chair of the university’s Labour Club.
Mr Strathern is Labour’s candidate to contest the Mid Bedfordshire seat set for a by-election once ex-Cabinet minister Nadine Dorries stops being an MP
Mr Strathern is Labour’s candidate to contest the Mid Bedfordshire seat set for a by-election once ex-Cabinet minister Nadine Dorries stops being an MP.
His partner Megan Corton-Scott is a political campaigner for Greenpeace.
A Labour insider branded Mr Kruger’s letter about Mr Strathern ‘desperate stuff’.
Last Thursday, a group of demonstrators scaled Mr Sunak’s Grade II-listed constituency manor house to protest against the PM’s plans to grant more than 100 new licences for oil and gas extraction in the North Sea.
The activists draped an oil-black fabric from the roof, staying there from about 8am to 1.15pm, when they were arrested and later bailed amid an ongoing investigation by North Yorkshire Police.
Both the Bank of England and Mr Strathern have been contacted by MailOnline for comment.
A Labour Party spokesman did not comment.
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