The Telegraph wrote that an MP’s aide has been paid £400,000 by oil companies linked to a regime accused of human rights abuses, amid concerns over foreign influence in Parliament.

According to the news, Gary Kent (in the photo) has been paid by Kurdistani oil and construction companies as he and the MP he works for promoted the region’s interests in Parliament.

The aide still works for Mary Glindon, the Labour MP and whip, and is also the secretary of the Kurdistan Region in Iraq All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG).

He has highlighted how the APPG has helped shape select committee reports and MPs’ speeches, as well as how it has secured a government trade mission to the country.

Mr Kent has also described how the group has taken more than 50 UK parliamentarians to the region over the last decades, some “several times”.

Transparency documents show that between 2015 and last year, Mr Kent had been paid by a number of different oil and construction companies with close links to the Kurdistan Regional Government.

He had been paid an annual salary of £57,000 by Kar Group and other companies in the region, but it is understood he now runs the APPG in a voluntary capacity.

Kar Group, a Kurdistani oil and construction company, has reportedly close links to the region’s government. Local media has reported that Baz Karim, the company’s president and chief executive, is a trusted adviser of Masrour Barzani, the Kurdistan Regional Government’s prime minister.