Duncan Smith cleared of ‘Betsygate’ allegations
Former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith has been cleared of allegations of improperly employing his wife Betsy as a secretary.
Mr Duncan Smith denied all charges of wrongdoing over the ‘Betsygate’ scandal and a House of Commons committee ruled today that there was no evidence of impropriety on his part.
The Committee on Standards and Privileges dismissed complaints by journalist Michael Crick that Mrs Duncan Smith had not carried out any duties as her husband’s diary secretary.
Mr Duncan Smith said in a statement: “I am immensely pleased that after a long and detailed inquiry, the committee and the commissioner have cleared Betsy and I of the serious allegations made against us.
“I said at the start of the inquiry that we would be exonerated and today we have been.
“This has been a very difficult time for us but now at last it is over and we can look forward as a family to getting on with our lives.”
A Tory Party spokesman added: “We welcome this report which is an unambiguous vindication of IDS. He emerges with his honour and reputation intact.”
However, the Commons standards commissioner, Sir Philip Mawer, upheld two complaints. He agreed that it appeared that at least some of the work Mrs Duncan Smith carried out as part of her contracted 25 hours a week was of a party political nature and that two members of staff were paid out of Mr Duncan Smith’s parliamentary staffing allowance for party work.
The committee ruled that it would have been more appropriate for Mr Duncan Smith to have paid staff for party political duties out of party funds rather than his parliamentary allowance, but added that he had not breached the code of conduct.
“Mr Duncan Smith’s financial arrangements may not have been ideal in the light of the current official interpretation of the various allowances available to him, but we would not be prepared to find a breach of the code in circumstances where such ambiguity exists,” the report said.
The report criticised the government for not responding to earlier warnings about the ambiguity of rules governing the use of public money used for political ends and the standard parliamentary allowance.
The committee also questioned the judgement of BBC journalist Michael Crick, who made the allegations on Newsnight.
“We have grave doubts about some of the techniques used to gather the information submitted in support of his complaint, but these are matters for the BBC,” the report reads.
Mr Crick said he accepted the findings but told the BBC: “It was absolutely right that this should have been pursued and absolutely right that the commissioner should have looked into it.”
The claims against Mr Duncan Smith surfaced during his last days as Tory leader.
