According to DEFRA @michaelgove appeared at @ianpaisleymp “political” event in his capacity as MP and not as Minister & thus did not register hospitality received with @DefraGovUK. Even though the event was promoted as “A Dinner for the SOS for Environment Food and Rural Affairs. 
DEFRA has not confirmed if @michaelgove contributed a fair proportion of the costs for the half day trip towards political events and official engagements or broken down any of the £1300 total - we’ve asked them again to confirm.
@Michaelgove did not report any hospitality for the event on his register as an MP however this is likely below the threshold to report including what appears to be one of those bottles of whiskey. 🥃
One of the Ministers SpAds appears to have remained with him in NI. Henry Cook drove with Gove to the hotel at around 6-7pm. Cook didn’t declare any hospitality. Again whether any costs were attributed to DEFRA or personally has not been confirmed.
When MEA Council discussed the event at Council there was a belief attendance would provide the “opportunity to have a meeting with the Minister” and that afterwards there would be a “Q&A session in relation to the Agri-Food sector”
