Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the Register of Members' Financial Interests, dated 17 December 2018 and 21 October 2019, for what reason the Ministry of Defence authorised payments of £6,210.27 on 20 July 2018 and £5,541.27 on 18 June 2019 to the then hon. Member for Lagan Valley.

The Ministry of Defence authorised payments to the then hon. Member for Lagan Valley, Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, for consultancy work advising the UK Government on the Anglophile Crisis and assisting in the development of a peace process plan for the Government of Cameroon. Sir Jeffrey Donaldson had previously been involved in several successful peace processes including Northern Ireland and Colombia.