Peer Claims Clocking Row Is 'Storm In Teacup'

Written By Unknown on Selasa, 17 Desember 2013 | 20.49

Ex-Tory peer Lord Hanningfield has claimed that allegations that he clocked in to the House of Lords for 40 minutes to earn £300 are a "storm in a teacup".

The peer, who was previously jailed during the expenses scandal, was caught on film by the Daily Mirror allegedly 'popping in' to the House of Lords to receive his allowance.

The newspaper said that on 11 of 19 days that it monitored the peer's movements in July, he travelled to Westminster from his home in Essex, but spent less than 40 minutes in the Lords before leaving.

The 73-year-old told Sky News on Tuesday morning the Mirror's investigation was a "lot of rubbish" and that he was previously "wrongly convicted" of expenses fraud.

He said: "This is a lot of rubbish. It's a storm in a tea cup. It's a lot of rubbish about nothing that the Mirror have done.

"I wasn't very well in July, so I didn't spend as long in London as I have in the last three months.

"I wish they had followed me around in the last three months because I have an assistant there now. I've spoken twice in the House of Lords in the last few weeks and asked lots of questions and I intend to carry on doing that.

"Checking in is a mechanism for the Lords to get paid. Most of our work is not actually in the chamber of the House of Commons, it's the post we get, the emails we get, all the letters we get and the problems people bring to us.

"We don't do that in the chamber. But going in the chamber is a mechanism to pay us so that is why we have to go in the chamber. You can do your work at home. You can do your work in the office I have in the Lords."

Paul White, as the peer used to be known, was appointed to the House of Lords in 1998 as a life peer for the Conservative Party after spending many years in local politics in his home county of Essex.

In July 2011 he was jailed for nine months after pleading guilty to six counts of false accounting for wrongly claiming £14,000 in parliamentary expenses.

The jury heard he repeatedly claimed £174 for overnight stays in London when he was not in the capital.

After his release from jail, in July this year the Mirror filmed him as he visited parliament 11 times in 19 days, staying for less than 40 minutes.

It took until December to discover that the peer claimed attendance allowance on each of the 11 days.

There is no suggestion the former Conservative broke any rules, but he faces calls from a Labour MP for him to be investigated by parliamentary authorities.


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