deputy speaker, for asking a young researcher employed by Laing to go on a date with a rich businessman contact of his who was "older than her father". According to Channel 4 News, the incident occurred in January 2013 and was preceded by an intermediary making the same approach several times. The Daily Telegraph, reported that Kawczynski had been referred to the Conservative party's new disciplinary committee. He admitted to the incident, but rejected the accusation of inappropriate conduct. Kawczynski expressed support for a prospective leadership bid by Jacob Rees-Mogg in 2018. From February 2018, he was paid £6,000 per month by the Electrum Group, a New York City-based investment, advisory and asset management firm owned by Thomas Kaplan. He described his association with the firm as a job he would work in his spare time. In February 2020, Kawczynski generated controversy for sharing a platform with right-wing populist politicians including Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán and the former deputy prime minister of Italy Matteo Salvini, at a conference organised by the Edmund Burke Foundation. Labour MP Andrew Gwynne called for Kawczynski to be suspended from Parliament, and he received additional criticism from some within the Conservative Party. Kawczynski responded in an article published The Spectator stating that his reason for attending the conference was to make the case for nation states against European federalism. Saudi Arabia In 2015, Kawczynski was described as a strong supporter of the Saudi Arabian government. On a visit to Saudi Arabia, he told then defence minister Salman Al Saud that he was proud of the ongoing military cooperation between the two countries. He later said that he was writing "the most pro-Saudi book ever written by a British politician" and that he had been "battling against extraordinary ignorance and prejudice against Saudi Arabia for many years". During an appearance on Newsnight in September 2018, Kawczynski defended the Saudi regime's approach to the war in Yemen and accused the BBC of bias against the Gulf coalition. He said that less coverage had been given to atrocities committed by the Houthis, and called it "an extremely complicated war." He threatened legal action after its editor Ian Katz suggested his opinion on the issue might be linked to the size of the budget for his expenses on trips to Saudi Arabia. In December 2021, journalists gained access to some of Kawczynski's WhatsApp messages where he described himself