Three more MPs caught in the expenses scandal announced yesterday that they
were quitting Parliament.
The Tory MP Julie Kirkbride followed her husband, Andrew MacKay, into
political oblivion and said she would stand down at the next election.
The other announcements came from Margaret Moran, the Labour MP for Luton
South who achieved notoriety over her expenses claims for dry rot, and
Christopher Fraser, a Conservative MP who claimed more than £1,800 to buy
215 trees and fencing. He said that he would not stand again in South West
Norfolk but insisted the decision had nothing to do with the expenses
scandal.
By waiting until the next general election to step down, the MPs will benefit
from parliamentary redundancy packages. Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat
leader, called yesterday for voters to be given the right to sack errant MPs
before the election.
Last night it emerged that another Tory MP, Bill Cash, had claimed £15,000 in
expenses to pay his daughter rent, even though he owned a flat in Pimlico,
Central London, that was closer to Parliament than her property in Notting
Hill. The MP for Stone in Staffordshire designated her flat as his second
home in 2004 and 2005, even though his — a short walk from Westminster — was
empty.
Mr Cash, whose designated main home is a Shropshire country house, nominated
two private members’ clubs as his second home for three months after his
daughter, a prospective Tory candidate, sold her property. When asked why he
did not live in his flat but in clubs, he said: “I just didn’t and that’s
all there is to it. I was nomadic at the time.”
Another Conservative MP was facing growing criticism from constituents over
expenses claims. Party officials in St Albans were due to meet last night to
decide the fate of Anne Main, who has been accused of allowing her daughter
to live in a home funded by taxpayers.
Nigel Griffiths, the Labour MP for Edinburgh South and former deputy leader of
the Commons, came under fire over a rejected claim for £3,600 for electronic
equipment in his second home in London. He said that a flat-screen
television was the best option because he lived in a “cramped flat”.
Ms Kirkbride said in her resignation letter that she had decided to go because
the pressure on herself and her family had become unbearable.
She began a fightback on Wednesday with a series of television interviews and
an article in The Times in which she defended her claims. They included the
use of her brother, as a carer for her son Angus, and her sister, for
correspondence work, as well as a decision to increase her mortgage by
£50,000 to build a new bedroom at her constituency home. She had planned, on
Mr Cameron’s advice, to talk to her constituents over the next few days to
explain her decisions. But political opponents in her Bromsgrove
constituency had already taken the initiative by organising a “Julie must
go” campaign, raising serious doubts over whether she could ever get a fair
hearing.
Yesterday morning Ms Kirkbride was already considering her position. But she
still went through with a recorded interview with Radio Five Live. It was
after that, when she had had time to look at the morning papers, that the
fight went out of her, according to friends.
The couple had been staying away from the media gaze with friends in Cornwall,
but Ms Kirkbride then faced a drive of several hours on her own up the M5 to
Bromsgrove, knowing that her political enemies, accompanied by television
crews, were lying in wait at her destination.
She told her husband that she had had enough, and together they agreed that
nothing would be gained by fighting on. The journey to Bromsgrove never
began and at about 9.30am she called the Conservative leader’s office to
tell his staff of her decision. Mr Cameron, on a train to Barnsley, was
informed and swiftly called back.
He had continued to support her throughout yesterday morning’s news bulletins
and his aides were adamant that the decision to quit had come from her and
not him, despite concern among some Conservatives that his reputation for
dealing toughly with people who had made mistakes was being compromised.
Mr Cameron spoke first to Mr MacKay, who then handed the phone to his wife. It
was an emotional and upsetting conversation for both of them, according to
accounts from both sides. A friend said: “David likes Julie and she was
utterly devastated.”
Her mind was made up, however, and she told her leader that her primary
concern from now on had to be her family. In her letter to Mr Cameron, she
wrote: “As you said yesterday, I gave a good account of myself. But the fact
that I am still defending myself and my family two weeks after Andrew
stepped down as your adviser has now become an unbearable pressure. This
pressure on my loyal party workers and me has to end.”
Mr Cameron told Ms Kirkbride, who had denied any wrongdoing, that she had
“given full answers to the questions that have been put to you, and you have
given a good account of yourself”.
The couple had used £170,000 in Commons allowances to fund both the homes
where they had lived for more than four years.
Ms Moran decided to quit before the completion of an investigation into her
activities and those of three other Labour MPs by the party’s “star
chamber”. She said: “The understandable public anger over the issue of MPs’
expenses has caused me great stress and has seriously worsened my existing
health problem.” She designated a property in Southampton as her second
home, nearly 100 miles from her constituency, then claimed £22,500 to treat
dry rot days later.
The television presenter Esther Rantzen had been threatening to stand as an
independent against her.
Mr Fraser, in a statement yesterday, said: “I have never sought reselection
for South West Norfolk because I have for some time been seriously
considering whether to go forward after the next general election. My wife’s
ongoing health problems and the major operation that she had last year have
made it difficult to juggle my family life with my duties as an MP.”The list
of MPs who have paid back claims was joined yesterday by Tony McNulty, the
Employment Minister, who promised to pay back £3,000 claimed on a house in
West London where his parents lived.
