Brown backer faces expenses embarrassment
By politics.co.uk staff
A Labour peer who donated money to Gordon Brown’s leadership campaign is facing an expenses investigation.
Swraj Paul claimed a flat in Oxfordshire was his main home despite the fact he never slept there, the Sunday Times reported.
The deputy speaker in the Lords was able to claim the allowance of up to £38,000 for peers who live outside London because he claimed his one-bedroom flat in Oxfordshire was his main home.
Lord Paul told the Guardian he only claimed money as part of his daily allowance when he attended the Lords.
He said: “I always had the flat for use when I was looking in the area for a place to buy, but no, I never slept in it because I eventually found somewhere else to buy a property. But that place was earmarked for me. I always had it for my use.”
The Labour peer has requested that House of Lords authorities conduct an investigation into the claims. It will be undertaken by the clerk of the parliaments in his capacity as the Lords’ accounting officer.
“During the course of the investigation by the House authorities, Lord Paul will not undertake duties as a deputy Speaker,” a statement from the upper chamber said.
Lord Paul, who was born in India and made his money in steel, is 88th in the Sunday Times rich list. He donated £45,000 to the prime minister’s leadership campaign in 2007.
