Alan Duncan, the shadow business secretary, has cut short his skiing trip after rumblings about whether he should be with other Tories on a tour of recession-hit Britain.
The waspish MP was in Davos enjoying a break after working over Christmas. He is chairman of the all-party parliamentary ski team.
He has pointed out that “the great thing about me because I don’t have a family so I can be on duty when others aren’t.”
The Times also reported that Duncan said he was meeting the Swiss Chamber of Commerce while in the Alps.
This didn’t sound much fun. So I called Duncan’s spokesman just now to ask if this was actually true.
“He didn’t go to the Swiss Chamber of Commerce, he’s not sure how that got into the story,” the spokesman said. “There was never any meeting due with the Swiss Chamber of Commerce, he thinks someone has got their wires crossed.”
A few minutes later he called back with a different line.
“I’ve talked to Alan again, he’s explained what has happened, on these ski trips, there are people there like the president of Switzerland, Swiss MPs, and businessmen, what happens in the course of the week is that you might sit down and talk about the economy and business.”
UPDATE
Labour are trying to make hay out of the situation. For example with this video:
But ConservativeHome points out that Duncan remains the 6th most popular member of the shadow cabinet.
Jim Pickard
Kiran Stacey