James Cleverly faces questions about his military service today, after it emerged he has not been paid by the Army Reserves for eight years.
The shadow Home Secretary's website reads "I still serve in the TA", and on his Commons Register of Interests, he says he is an "Officer in the Reserve Forces." But he declared to the Commons he has received no payments for qualifying days of service since he was elected in 2015.
And Mr Cleverly has refused to confirm the date - or even the year - of his last active volunteer service to the Mirror. It's understood Mr Cleverly is currently assigned to the Army Reserve Reinforcements Group 4 (ARRG4) - to which reserves can be attached if they are unable to fulfil their training requirements for a limited period.
The group is usually used to keep reserves who are living abroad on the books, so they can re-join a unit at a later date. But the standard tenure for ARRG4 is two years - which can be extended for up to another two.
A Labour source said: "The story of Cleverly's military service doesn't add up. He needs to come clean about the conditions of his role and if he's been given special terms. Anything less is an insult to our servicemen and women who dedicate their lives to protecting our country."
Under Army regulations, after four years they're required to either retire, be voluntarily discharged, or join a reserve list of inactive officers.
But Mr Cleverly appears to have stayed on this list for much longer - and is expected to remain on it until 2029. It's unclear how or why this has been agreed.
Mr Cleverly's Register of Interests currently says he has received "no payments since my election" in 2015 - which suggests he may not have served in uniform for nine years. In 2015 and 2016, Mr Cleverly declared he was "expecting" to earn around £7,000 for his service days. But he never updated the entry to declare the payments had been received.
READ MORE: Join the Mirror politics WhatsApp community for all the latest from Westminster
And in 2016 he updated the register to confirm no payments had been made since his election.
Mr Cleverly declined to comment.
Rival Tory Tom Tugendhat came under pressure during the 2022 leadership election for supposedly upsetting members of the military community when he wore a tie with the Special Boat Service colours during a TV debate, despite not ever having confirming he worked for that regiment.
While Mr Tugendhat has been attached to the Royal Marines and the Intelligence Corps at various times, when asked if he served with the Special Boat Service by the Telegraph, he cryptically responded that he was "very honoured to be a member of the association".
