Expenses-row MP steps down

tory decides not to stand for re-election amid new allegations by paper

By Andrew Woodcock

Published:

STANDING DOWN: MP David Wilshire on his way to the Commons where he said he would not contest the next election

A Conservative MP facing questions over his expenses claims will stand down at the coming general election, the party said yesterday.

David Wilshire referred himself to the parliamentary standards commissioner after reports that he directed more than £100,000 of public money to a company owned by him and his wife.

After discussions with Tory chief whip Patrick McLoughlin yesterday, the MP for Spelthorne in Surrey announced that he would not seek re-election in the poll expected next spring.

“He maintains that he has done nothing wrong and that the commissioner will clear him,” said a senior Tory source.

“He feels that if he remains a MP it could damage the party and cause distress to his friends and family.”

In a statement, Mr Wilshire said: “The allegations made in today’s Daily Telegraph are deeply hurtful and unjustified.

“However, my constituents rightly want reassurance and the truth. This is why I have referred this to the commissioner. I am confident that he will confirm that I have done nothing wrong.

“That said, I am very conscious that the allegations and investigation will cause great distress to my family and friends. These allegations also run the risk of harming my local party and our national party’s chances of winning at the next general election.

“In the circumstances I have reluctantly concluded that it is sensible for me not to seek re-election next year.”

The newspaper reported that Mr Wilshire paid up to £3,250 a month in parliamentary office allowances to Moorlands Research Services between 2005 and 2008.

Extra invoices were also submitted and the total paid to the firm – owned by him and his partner Ann Palmer – was £105,500.

Mr Wilshire said the firm had closed down last year, but before that it had been included in his entry for the Register of Members’ Interests.

He denied any wrongdoing, insisting the arrangement was formally approved by the Commons Fees Office.

His departure came as Prime Minister Gordon Brown faced backbench anger over his handling of the expenses row.

Crosby MP Claire Curtis-Thomas, who is also standing down at the election, said her colleagues on the Labour benches felt “bitterly let down” by their leader’s failure to offer them “unequivocal” support over the Legg inquiry.

“People who have spent their lifetime working for politics, in all parties, feel bitterly let down on a personal level,” she said.

“The lack of defence, the lack of unequivocal support for the vast majority of people in our party I think has been really disappointing.”

Labour’s Commons Leader Harriet Harman yesterday appeared to question Sir Thomas’s conduct of his inquiry.

The former Whitehall mandarin has incensed many MPs by imposing a backdated cap of £2,000 a year for cleaning and £1,000 for gardening at their second homes.

Ms Harman, however, told MPs it would be “arbitrary” to apply different rules and standards than those which applied at the time.

Mr Brown has told Labour MPs they should comply with Sir Thomas if he told them to repay money, but Ms Harman took a softer line when she told the Commons that anyone who felt hard done-by could challenge his findings.

Ms Harman said: “There is a three-week period in which members can respond to Sir Thomas.

“If they think there is an inaccuracy or they think he is not judging them by the rules and standards that obtained at the time, no doubt they will point that out.”

Mr Brown’s spokesman denied there was a difference of opinion between the prime minister and Ms Harman.

“Both are clear that it is right for MPs during the three-week period to make representations to Sir Thomas. That is built into the process,” said the spokesman.

Asked about Ms Curtis-Thomas’s comments, Mr Brown said: “I think our duty is to clean up politics. If people think we are going slow or going to be hesitant in the cleaning up of politics, they will draw their own conclusions.

“We are determined to have a new system.

“I think I have made the right decisions. Members of Parliament proved the self-regulation system did not work. The government had to make proposals. I’m determined to clean up politics.”

Meanwhile, Mr Bercow and Mayor of London Boris Johnson became the latest politicians to repay expenses as a result of the Legg audit.

Mr Bercow paid back an “accidental overclaim” of £978 for mortgage interest, while Mr Johnson returned £1,266 he claimed for council tax while an MP.