MPs' EXPENSES: Ex-minister faces the sack over £16,000 'mistake' on
mortgage he had already paid off
By Ian Drury and Nicola Boden
Last updated at 11:20 AM on 14th May 2009
A former government minister is facing the sack today after it was
revealed he claimed £16,000 of taxpayers' money for a mortgage that did
not exist.
Gordon Brown will hold urgent talks with Labour's chief whip this
morning about Elliot Morley's political future.
The Scunthorpe MP could face a fraud probe after claiming interest
payments for a home in his Scunthorpe constituency for 18 months after
the loan was paid off.
Sources said the Prime Minister is 'very concerned' about the claims,
which were revealed among the latest revelations about MPs' expenses.
It was also revealed that Mr Morely claimed thousands of pounds in
expenses for a London property he was renting to a fellow MP.
Mr Brown is under intense pressure to take swift disciplinary action
against Mr Morley today, including kicking him out of the Parliamentary
party.
The MP and other Labour figures will be ordered to explain their claims
to chief whip Nick Brown at a crunch meeting as he desperately tries to
limit any more damage to the party.
Gordon Brown's spokesman refused to speculate on possible punishments
this morning, insisting Mr Morley would be given his say, but he
admitted the meeting was being held 'as a matter of urgency'.
Questions were also being asked about why the scandal was not reported
for further investigation last week, when Mr Morley told the chief whip.
Mr Morley has apologised and insisted he had repaid money after
realising his 'mistake'. It was reported that the whole amount had been
returned.
But lawyers warned that the former agriculture minister could find
himself embroiled in a police investigation.
The claims could constitute a criminal offence under the 2006 Fraud Act
and the 1968 Theft Act.
Even if Scotland Yard refuse to investigate, campaigners could drag him
into court for a private prosecution.
TaxPayers' Alliance chief Matthew Elliott said: 'The news about Elliot
Morley is the most concerning and disgusting yet. This has gone beyond
the question of a flawed system and the police must now be called in.
'If they do not investigate, then the TaxPayers' Alliance will consider
bringing a private prosecution against Mr Morley and any other MPs who
appear to have broken the law.'
The revelation is the most serious to be uncovered since unedited
documents of MPs' expenses claims were leaked.
The disclosure that a senior Labour figure was milking Parliament's
generous allowances almost to the brink of criminality thrust the
spotlight in the expenses scandal back on the Prime Minister.
Over recent days the focus had shifted to the Tories, whose backbenchers
claimed for moats and manure on their expenses, and the Liberal
Democrats.
Two police officers were on guard this morning outside Mr Morley's
constituency home in the north Lincolnshire village of Winterton.
Officers were stopping anyone approaching the 10ft-high wooden gates at
the end of his drive.
In 2007, the Parliamentary fees office asked MPs to provide annual
mortgage statements for their second homes.
Mr Morley, a former government whip, claimed £800 a month for mortgage
interest on the Scunthorpe property.
But the loan had been repaid by March 1, 2006, according to official
Land Registry documents.
Mr Morley said last night: 'I do not believe any offence has been
committed. I have reported this to the finance department and chief
whip. I have made a mistake, I apologise for that and I take full
responsibility. My priority was to repay.'
He admitted he should have 'kept a tighter rein' and said he felt
'terrible'.
But Steven Barker, a lawyer who specialises in fraud, said the MP may
have committed a crime.
'The Fraud Act was designed to deal with these types of offences. There
is also a possibility of an offence of false accounting under the Theft
Act.,' he said.
'The question is what is in a man's mind when he makes that claim - is
it an honest, inadvertent mistake or is it knowingly asking for
something you are not entitled to.
Only at the weekend Mr Morley told his local newspaper the whole
expenses system was a 'complete shambles'.
He said: 'There needs to be a root and branch overhaul of the whole
thing. I don't necessarily think people have abused the system, but the
system itself is absolutely antiquated and Byzantine.'
It also emerged that in November 2007 Mr Morley 'flipped' his designated
second home from the Scunthorpe house to his London property.
He rented that to a fellow Labour MP, Ian Cawsey.
For four months after Mr Morley 'flipped', the former minister claimed
full mortgage interest on his London house.
Mr Cawsey, a Labour vice chairman who had designated the house as his
own second home, continued to claim £1,000 a month in rent for it. The
rent money was paid to Mr Morley.
Mr Cawsey, a friend of Mr Morley, said he had no idea about his
colleague's arrangements.
He said in a statement: 'I do not have any interest or ownership rights
to [the London house] or on any other home except my family home in my
constituency. I receive no financial or personal gain from these
arrangements. '
The arrangement was discovered only in March 2008 when officials found
both MPs were claiming for the same property. The revelations raise
serious questions over how the expenses system was policed.
It is unclear where Mr Morley was actually living in London.
MP overclaims thousands of pounds on mortgage
MP Fabian Hamilton overclaimed on expenses
MP Fabian Hamilton overclaimed on expenses
A Labour MP named his mother's London house as his 'main' home while
over-claiming thousands of pounds for a mortgage on his family property.
Fabian Hamilton claims he spent most of his time at his mother's house
until her death in 2005 - allowing him to spend large sums of taxpayers'
money furnishing his constituency home in Leeds.
He then 'flipped' his second home to a flat in North-West London, which
he spruced up with a £5,000 kitchen and £800 bed.
He also wrongly claimed in 2004 for the full cost of his Leeds mortgage
instead of just the interest payments - charging the taxpayer an extra
£2,850.
Mr Hamilton said: 'The mortgage claims were an accident.
'I didn't realise I was claiming until the Fees Office pointed it out.
It was an oversight on my part and I offered to pay it back.'
Http://www.dailymai l.co.uk/news/ article-1181434/ Ex-minister- faces-sack-
16-000-mistake- mortgage- paid-off. html
Posts
