The enterprise secretary has apologised after it emerged he claimed to be a solicitor – regardless of not ending his coaching.
Jonathan Reynolds confronted calls to resign after accusations he described himself as a solicitor on a number of events – together with on his LinkedIn web page, within the Commons and on an previous constituency web site that’s not on-line.
The time period solicitor is protected beneath legislation, and other people can face prosecution for pretending to be one.
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Mr Reynolds accomplished a legislation course and later started to coach as a solicitor, however left the programme to run for parliament.
Talking to journalists on a visit to India, Mr Reynolds stated: “I’ve never presented myself as a qualified solicitor. I have made repeated references to being a trainee solicitor in government press releases, on social media, covered very extensively in the legal press.”
The minister added: “For a speech – and I think a tweet or maybe a Facebook post over a decade ago – I don’t think it’s a huge deal, but I should apologise for that, if anyone has misunderstood that, but I don’t think they have.”
Downing Road stated Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer had accepted the apology provided by Mr Reynolds.
A spokesperson stated the minister had written to the prime minister “offering an unreserved apology for inadvertent errors made and he’s provided an explanation and an apology that the prime minister has accepted”.
Andrew Griffith, the shadow enterprise secretary, renewed requires Mr Reynolds to resign following his apology, saying he was “making excuses”.
He wrote on X: “The Business Secretary lied to Parliament. This is still on the record. He should do the proper thing and resign.”
He additionally criticised the framing of the apology, saying: “This is a ‘sorry’ from over 4,000 miles away, not a sorry apology.”
Yesterday, Reform UK chief Nigel Farage promised to privately prosecute Mr Reynolds over the claims.
He advised a crowd in Cornwall: “Jonathan Reynolds, who’s never had a proper job in his life, who tells us he’s a solicitor when he’s never been qualified, which is a criminal offence.
“I can let you know tonight that there can be a personal prosecution introduced towards Jonathan Reynolds.”
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The Solicitors Regulation Authority stated final week: “We looked at that issue at the time we became aware of it and contacted Mr Reynolds about the profiles.
“The supplies had been corrected, and we closed the matter with no additional motion based mostly on all of the proof we had on the time.
“However, we’ve now become aware of further information, so we will look at this.”
A Labour supply urged beforehand the reference to Mr Reynolds being a solicitor on social media was “human error” and stated Mr Reynolds didn’t handle the profile.
