Row between Viceroy and Labour MP escalates as short seller files complaint with parliament
A row between short seller Viceroy Research and Labour MP Liam Byrne escalated today after the short seller lodged a complaint with parliament after Byrne suggested that the firm has ties to the Kremlin.
In a parliamentary debate last month, the MP for Birmingham Hodge Hill called for an investigation into “the activities of short-selling attack group Viceroy Research and its leader Fraser Perring”, adding that Perring was “not an infrequent visitor to Moscow”.
“We must ensure that short-selling groups are not another weapon in Putin’s arsenal,” Byrne said.
Byrne has provided no evidence since then to support his claims.
Perring has written to Bryne asking him to retract his statement, but Byrne has so far refused to do so.
After filing a complaint to the Metropolitan Police last week, Perring today lodged a complaint with the Speaker of the House of Commons, Lindsay Hoyle.
“Mr Byrne was put up to this by sinister personalities to smear, make disparaging remarks and alleged criminal wrongdoing, namely treason,” Perring said in the complaint, seen by City A.M.
“Simply, Mr Byrne was set up to make easily demonstrably false and criminal statements,” Perring said, stating that neither he, nor any of his staff, have been to Russia or worked with Russian nationals.
“To make these statements in or out of the commons has many implications in the current climate with Ukraine being illegally invaded by Russia,” he said.
“Mr Byrne, by his statements, has encouraged hate speech against me,” he added.
Perring has asked for the matter to be referred to the parliamentary standards committee.
Perring said he has also complained about Bryne’s remarks to Labour’s chief whip Alan Campbell.
Byrne, Campbell and the Speaker’s Office and the standards committee didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.