THE MP for North Somerset, who has accepted almost a quarter of a million pounds in donations and gifts since the last general election, has said that there has been no "wrongdoing."

The latest register of MPs' interests has revealed that, since 2019, Dr Liam Fox, a Conservative MP, has received a total of £224,328 in donations.

Dr Fox has also been gifted life membership to the exclusive Carlton Club, in St James’s London, which is reported to be worth more than £1,700 per year.

The Labour Party has questioned how Dr Fox manages "to find time" to represent the interests of North Somerset residents, since many of the funding sources are miles away from the constituency.

Dr Emma Coombe, North Somerset Labour Party secretary, said: "North Somerset residents might wonder how their MP manages to find the time to represent their interests when his register of interests reveals such a remarkable range of funding sources, many of them from companies many miles away from the constituency.

"It would certainly be interesting to hear what Dr Fox's donors expect in return for their generosity."

The Labour Party has listed nine of the separate donations declared by the MP in the last year alone, which total £77,500.

These include £10,000 each from the West Midlands-based financial services firm Dukehill Services, the Middlesex-based waste management firm BMJ Waste, the Buckinghamshire-based insurance firm Partners & Limited, the Oxfordshire-based investment management company Invesco Perpetual, and the Bristol Port Company.

The Labour Party adds that Dr Fox received £10,000 in donations earlier this year from the energy firm Aquind, which has been seeking government approval for a new project.

The company gave the same amount to the MP in 2019, while its co-owner donated £10,000 in 2021.

Dr Fox also faced criticism in 2022 for accepting a £20,000 donation from SureScreen Diagnostics, two years after he recommended the company to health secretary Matt Hancock and it went on to win a £500m Department of Health Covid testing contract.

A spokesperson for Dr Fox said: “There is no suggestion of any wrongdoing or impropriety. They are all political donations approved by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards.”