Conservative MP Maria Miller is facing growing political pressure to resign after a Labour MP referred her expenses claims and correspondence to the police, and Downing Street has found itself embroiled in the scandal.
The Parliamentary Standards Commissioner found that Miller had over-claimed expenses by about £45,000, but a committee of MPs only ordered her to repay £5,800 to cover over-claiming of mortgage expenses. However, they also found that Miller had breached the MPs’ code of conduct in trying to fight off an investigation by the watchdog into her expenses, for which she was forced to apologise to parliament.
Prime Minister David Cameron has stood behind the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, hoping that her repayment of £5,800 and 30-second apology would be the end of the matter, as he spoke in Devon saying:
“What happened yesterday is that Maria Miller was actually cleared of the original charge made against her. It was found she had made mistakes, she accepted that, repaid the money, she apologised unreservedly to the House of Commons … So I think that we should leave it there.”
However, the apology was not sufficient for Labour MP Thomas Docherty who referred the case to the Metropolitan Police, where he wrote in a letter:
“Given the widely differing conclusions of the commission and the committee regarding the serious allegations made about Mrs Miller and the fact that both the commission and committee feel that Mrs Miller did not co-operate with the inquiry, I believe this matter warrants further investigation and I believe the Metropolitan police are the appropriate body to carry out such an investigation.”
Downing Street now also finds itself embroiled in the scandal after the former editor of the Daily Telegraph claimed that the prime minister’s communications director, Craig Oliver, had threatened the paper in 2012 over its coverage of Miller’s expenses claims. Gallagher alleged that Oliver phoned him with a reminder that Miller was “looking at Leveson”, implying their coverage could result in harsher controls over the press. Oliver said the claims were “entirely false”.
1 Comment
Hi,
Maria Miller’s expenses claims referred to police as Downing Street becomes embroiled in scandal. Admittedly Therese Coffey who puts a lot of weight behind what see say is in full support of Mrs. Miller. As a phone hacking fan no other could be expected. However the consensus of the British people hold the action of Mrs. Miller in distain and not fit of a minister of state.