Every two weeks there’s a new release of the House of Commons’ Register of Members Financial Interests. 

As part of the work that went into our Beyond Transparency report, we got together a team of volunteers to go right through the register and understand more about what was in it. From that we learned about patterns, and things we wanted to pay more attention to going forward. 

Every time the register comes out, we get it uploaded onto TheyWorkForYou; then we go through and make a BlueSky thread picking out interesting bits (where ‘interesting’ might just be noteworthy, or a new pattern, as well as “this is bad”). 

This is sharpening our thinking, helping us draw out trends over time, and think about how we can best use platforms and data to argue for changes to the rules, and higher standards in politics. 

I’m going to keep this blog post updated as an index of these threads, with a quick summary of the key things we’ve found. 

If you’d like to get them as they happen, follow @theyworkforyou.com on Bluesky. 

2026–06-30: thread

In this register, Nigel Farage’s gold, Rishi Sunak’s speeches, 23 freebies including Ascot, the Chelsea Flower Show, and an unnamed music concert.

2026-06-16: thread

This register featured payments from the social media platform X; the opening of the Labour leadership contest; and ministerial freebies — including a David Lammy football ticket declaration that shows how Parliament’s rules lag behind the civil service’s.

2026-06-03: thread

The gifts register is viewed through a ‘third parties handing MPs nice tickets’ lens, plus the recurring charity-offset convention.

2026-05-19: thread

The dominant theme is MPs accepting money from a source and donating it to charity, against a backdrop of widespread sporting freebies.

2026-04-29: thread

The last register of the parliamentary session, with continuing X payments, calls to ban them, and the developing charity-offset convention.

2026-04-14: thread

Gifts received in a private capacity versus those with a professional justification — and a trend toward MPs giving fuller justifications.

2026-03-24: thread

Several notable entries, focused on Farage’s earnings from the Cameo website; and whether freebies from third parties are worse than those from venues.

2026-03-10: thread

Who went to the BRIT Awards, plus an FOI request on civil service gift rules.

2026-02-24: thread

Foreign trips and freebies, including APPG travel and how the cumulative £300 threshold works.

2026-02-03: thread

A few notes on the new register, centring on a gambling company freebie and the problem of structuring the PM’s security as a gift.

2026-01-06: thread

New year, new register: payments from X; gifts from ‘not free’ countries; and big foreign-funded trips.

2025-12-16: thread

A short note on rare gifts from non-UK sources.

2025-12-02: thread

Small gifts tipping over the £300 disclosure threshold, and hospitality from ‘not free’ countries.

2025-11-18: thread

Sunak’s Hoover Institute payment, party donations, and freebie taxonomy.

2025-11-04: thread

Continuing Labour deputy-leader donations, an APPG foreign trip, and Ascot freebies.

2025-10-21: thread

Deputy-leader donations, a National Lottery operator’s Rugby World Cup freebie, and how APPGs open doors to gifts.

2025-09-17: thread

MPs’ outside legal work and the difficulty of naming clients, plus more freebies.

2025-08-05: thread

A register heavy on freebies, including Google/YouTube taking six MPs to Glastonbury; free tickets for the PM’s wife and a gambling tax lobbying push.

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Image: Guzz Alkala