MPs expenses: ducks, floods and phantom mortgages
- 00:01:13
- ITN
MPs expenses: ducks, floods and phantom mortgages
A veteran Tory MP who claimed £1,645 for a floating "duck island" for his pond has confirmed he is to stand down. Sir Peter Viggers was given a quit-or-be-expelled ultimatum by party leader David Cameron after his second home gardening bills were among the latest claims to be published by The Daily Telegraph. Sir Peter, a former banker who has represented Gosport, Hants, since 1974, will quit at the next General Election and pay back a sum believed to be in five figures after his claims were ruled excessive by a Tory panel. Fellow Tory MP Anthony Steen has also said he will not stand to avoid distracting the party from its General Election fight days after Douglas Hogg did the same after outrage at his submission of a bill for cleaning his moat. Totnes MP Mr Steen, who claimed more than £80,000 from the taxpayer over four years for work at his £1 million Devon mansion, said he did not want to "distract" the party from its fight against Labour. "The real focus for all Conservatives should be on winning the next election. For that reason, and because I don't want to distract from the real story here, I have decided not to stand at the next election," he said. The Tory leadership is said to be happy with an explanation given by party whip Bill Wiggin for an £11,000 mortgage claim made against the wrong property. Mr Wiggin said he had inadvertently filled in the wrong address on several claim forms but had not benefited financially in any way from the error - which was spotted by officials in 2006. "It was purely an administrative error, and it was of absolutely no financial advantage to me. I claimed the correct amount to the last penny," he said. Mr Cameron set up the party scrutiny panel - which began work on Friday - to comb Tory claims for any deemed unreasonable - with guilty MPs to be told to repay the money or have the whip removed. Among other MPs targeted by the Telegraph is Labour former cabinet minister Ruth Kelly, who was said to have claimed thousands of pounds for flood damage at her second home despite the building being insured. The furore over Westminster pay and perks showed no signs of abating the day after a new set of emergency reforms to the system were set out by Commons leader Harriet Harman. A £1,250 monthly cap on mortgage interest, rent and hotel claims, a ban on "flipping" residences and an end to claims for "furniture, household goods, capital improvements, gardening, cleaning and stamp duty" will be introduced immediately and a "reasonableness" test applied to all claims and any failing refused without appeal. But Communities Secretary Hazel Blears was dragged back into the spotlight after Gordon Brown branded her behaviour "totally unacceptable". The Prime Minister's spokesman later insisted he had "full confidence" in Ms Blears, and there was no question of her being sacked after avoiding £13,000 in capital gains tax. And it was revealed Luton South MP Margaret Moran has been referred to a special Labour Party panel which will consider whether she should be deselected after claiming £22,500 to treat dry rot at a property in Southampton. Former environment minister Elliot Morley also stepped aside from chairing the Commons Energy and Climate Change Committee. He and fellow backbencher David Chaytor have both been suspended from the Parliamentary Labour Party pending sleaze watchdog probes into claims against non-existent loan interest.
ITN | May 21, 2009
