Grant Shapps used Michael Green pseudonym for business interests after becoming an MP

Grant Shapps, the Conservative Party chairman, continued to pursue his business interests under a pseudonym for more than a year after becoming an MP.

It comes despite the Welwyn Hatfield MP repeatedly saying he stopped doing business under the name Michael Green after entering Parliament in 2005.

The Guardian has uncovered a recording reportedly from the summer of 2006 in which the Tory MP explains how listeners can make a “ton of cash by Christmas”.

Labour has called for David Cameron to call an inquiry to the establish the facts and Mr Shapps to resign to help bring back “integrity into politics”.

However Mr Shapps and his Conservative cabinet colleagues have criticised coverage of the “old story” and claimed Labour’s attacks show they are anti-business.

“Old story: all properly declared at the time and all many years ago. Labour just hate business,” Mr Shapps tweeted when the story broke.

But Mr Shapps later told the BBC he “screwed up” over the dates in a recent interview and admitted having denied holding a second job “over firmly”.

The Tory chairman is under pressure to fully explain why he claimed he had never used his pseudonym Michael Green after being elected in May 2005, given the new recording.

Mr Shapps told LBC Radio recently: “I thought the discussion here was second jobs whilst people are MPs. To be absolutely clear. I don’t have a second job. And I have never had a second job whilst I being an MP. End of story.”

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https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/conservative/11474365/Grant-Shapps-used-Michael-Green-pseudonym-for-business-interests-after-becoming-an-MP.html