Israel lobbyist in House of Lords claims thousands of pounds in public funds

A leading lobbyist who described his appointment to the UK's House of Lords as a “once in a lifetime opportunity” to advocate for Israel is claiming thousands of pounds in public funds for his parliamentary work.

Stuart Polak, who led the Conservative Friends of Israel (CFI) for 25 years, has claimed almost £250,000 ($323,015) since he was made a peer by then-Prime Minister David Cameron in 2015, according to an analysis of his expenses by Middle East Eye and Declassified UK.

Polak’s expenses as a member of the House of Lords are entirely legitimate. Members do not receive a salary but can claim a non-taxable daily attendance allowance of £361 (£342 before April 2024). They may also opt to claim a reduced allowance or none at all.

But Polak’s place in parliament, and his entitlement to draw on public money while continuing to advocate for Israel, has been called into question at a time when Israeli leaders face accusations of genocide and war crimes over their conduct in the war against Hamas in Gaza, in which more than 38,000 Palestinians have been killed.

This week, Alan Duncan, a former foreign office minister, raised concerns about CFI’s relationship with the Conservative Party. He announced that he had been cleared of antisemitism by a party disciplinary panel and suggested there had been a “witch hunt” against him.

The case against Duncan came after an interview with LBC radio in April, in which he said that CFI was “doing the bidding” of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

He also accused Polak of “exercising the interests of another country, not that of the parliament in which he sits” and called for his removal from the House of Lords.

In a strongly worded statement on Tuesday, Duncan claimed that an improper relationship existed between the CFI and the top of the Conservative Party, urging the party to “decouple itself” from the lobby group.

A Conservative Party spokesperson dismissed Duncan’s claims about links between the party and CFI as “false and entirely unfounded”.

MEE and Declassified UK approached Lord Polak and CFI for comment but had not received a response by the time of publication.

Standing up for Israel

Polak stepped down as head of CFI to take his place in the UK parliament’s unelected upper house as a Conservative peer in 2015.

However, he remains the lobby group’s honorary president and registered director and is still considered to be one of the most important pro-Israel voices in Westminster.

Of the 40 questions he has asked since becoming a member of the House of Lords, only seven have not been related to Palestine, Israel or the Middle East.

Polak has already made three trips to Israel in the first quarter of this year.

The first trip, in January, was described by CFI as a “special solidarity visit” by Conservative parliamentarians and included a meeting with Israeli President Isaac Herzog.

The trip was funded by the European Leadership Network (Elnet), an organisation created to “counter the widespread criticism of Israel”. Elnet has described South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) as “politically motivated and legally tenuous”.

In February, Polak joined a CFI delegation of Conservative parliamentary candidates visiting the country. In March, he was part of a House of Lords delegation that met “Israeli politicians, religious leaders, Palestinian civil society and the British Ambassador to Israel”, according to the House of Lords register of interests.

Polak has been open about his determination to use his place in the Lords to continue speaking up for Israel.

At the time of his appointment, he said: “The prime minister has given me a once in a lifetime opportunity to enter the House of Lords, which will enable me to continue to advocate for Israel.”

In an interview in 2022, Polak described how Cameron had urged him to continue “to stand up for Israel”.

“When David Cameron invited me to go to the Lords… he said I hope you will continue to stand up for Israel, these were his words. To stand up for Israel in the House of Lords,” Polak said.

Jonathan Purcell, senior public affairs officer at the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP), said: "Time and time again, Lord Polak has said it is a 'great honour' to speak up for Israel in the House of Lords. But the duties of politicians are simple. MPs should serve their constituents, and peers should serve the country more generally. This should be the focus of any and all politicians."

Private meetings

Polak briefly came to public attention in 2017 for organising private meetings between the then-development secretary, Priti Patel, and senior Israeli officials.

The incident forced Patel’s resignation from Cabinet. Yet, Polak escaped the scandal with almost no scrutiny and has continued to enjoy access to senior Conservative politicians.

In January, Polak sat next to then-Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at the CFI’s annual business lunch, attended by “200 Conservative parliamentarians, 20 Cabinet members and four former UK prime ministers”.

On Wednesday, it was widely reported that Patel plans to stand to replace Sunak as Conservative leader following the party’s general election defeat by Labour earlier this month, which left it with only 121 MPs.

Several other potential leadership contenders also have links to CFI. The group has paid for Robert Jenrick and James Cleverly to visit Israel, while Kemi Badenoch said she was "really, really proud to be a supporter of CFI" when she addressed its "legendary" parliamentary reception last year.

Polak also has connections to the Israeli government.

Last year, he hosted the then-Israeli intelligence minister, Gila Gamliel, at an event at the House of Lords, where Gamliel called for the UK government to proscribe Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organisation.

Chris Doyle, director of the Council for Arab-British Understanding (Caabu), said that while Polak was fully entitled to claim the daily House of Lords allowance, there were questions to be asked about why he had been made a member in the first place.

He also called for greater scrutiny of Polak’s interventions in the Lords, citing his criticism in March 2023 of the previous UK government’s policy of non-engagement with Israel’s far-right security minister, Itamar Ben Gvir.

“He is going in there with a very blinkered view that is polarising and unhelpful,” said Doyle.

“While he is entitled to put his views, the record will show he is prepared to uphold and promote views which I would like to think our politicians should be staying well away from.”

Trips to Morocco and Bahrain

As a member of a parliamentary group supportive of the Abraham Accords, Polak has used his position to promote closer ties between the UK and Arab states that have normalised relations with Israel, including the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco.

Last year, Polak was among a group of peers who visited the city of Laayoune in Western Sahara during a trip to Morocco and the disputed territory as guests of the Moroccan government.

The UK government does not recognise Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara and considers its status as “undetermined”. However, Polak was reported as saying that Israel’s decision to recognise Morocco’s claim to the territory was “the right thing to do” and pledged to encourage the UK government to do the same.

Polak has fostered close ties with Bahrain, meeting its crown prince at the Royal Windsor Horse Show in May alongside former Prime Minister Theresa May.

He visited Bahrain three times between 2022 and 2023 as a guest of the Gulf state, according to the House of Lords register of interests, and again in February 2024, according to Bahrain’s foreign ministry.

The House of Lords expenses system effectively means UK taxpayers subsidise Polak’s lobbying activities.

Analysis of official records, published up to December 2023, shows he has claimed £235,000 ($304,000) in daily allowances since becoming a peer. When records for this year are released, the total will likely be closer to £250,000, based on claims Polak has made in previous years for his parliamentary time.

The financial records appear to indicate that Polak is more active in parliament during CFI campaign periods, including the group’s flagship policies to ban Hamas in its entirety and Lebanon's Hezbollah movement.

While Hamas’s military wing has been proscribed in the UK since 2001, both Labour and Conservative governments have refrained from outlawing the group’s political wing. They have recognised that a ban could complicate its important political role in running Gaza’s civil administration.

However, in November 2021, Patel, then serving as home secretary under Boris Johnson, announced the government’s intention to ban Hamas in its entirety. The ban was passed just five days later without a parliamentary vote.

The Hamas ban coincided with one of Polak’s busiest months in Westminster. During that period, he attended parliament for 14 days and claimed an allowance of £4,522 in public funds.

Polak voted on four days during that month and spoke in the Lords on three occasions, including a six-minute speech calling for a boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics because of China’s persecution of the Uyghurs the day after Hamas was banned.

In February 2019, Polak made a similar expense claim when Hezbollah was banned by the then-Home Secretary Sajid Javid, another senior Conservative politician who met Polak while on holiday in Israel.

The Hezbollah ban was debated in the Lords that month, with Polak describing it as “the right one and long overdue”. The group’s ban passed without a vote.

Polak claimed an allowance of £4,575 for 15 days in parliament that month.