Parliament’s standards watchdog opened an investigation into independent MP Rupert Lowe on 10 July over an alleged failure to declare more than £600,000 raised for his self-funded inquiry into grooming gangs. Under Commons rules, MPs must record donations above £1,500 within 28 days of receipt. Lowe launched the crowdfunder in March after leaving Reform UK and began drawing on the money on 23 June, according to the inquiry’s organisers. Lowe argued that the 28-day disclosure period therefore runs until 21 July and said most of the paperwork had already been completed. Later on 11 July, the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards informed the MP that the complaint had been dismissed, effectively clearing him of any breach of the register-of-interests rules.