Former minister asked for £3K for TV set
By politics.co.uk staff
A former minister and deputy leader of the House tried to claim £3,600 for a digital TV, DVD and radio set.
Nigel Griffiths, former construction minister and enterprise minister, had the claim rejected by Commons authorities, and said he went on to buy it with his own money.
The allegations against Mr Griffiths appear in today’s Telegraph, which has now been leaking damaging revelations about MPs’ expenses for several weeks.
His other claims, mostly for redecoration of his second home, were mostly approved, including one for £9,250 in 2004.
Mr Griffiths said he needed the set to keep up with events in Scotland.
When his claim was questioned by the Fees Office, the paper said he wrote: “As a Scottish MP, I can only keep in touch with events during the day, which might affect my constituents, by tuning into the Scottish radio stations which the digital set provides.
“Likewise, I record the Scottish TV news and Scottish current affairs programmes, which feature issues in Scotland and in south Edinburgh. In a cramped London flat, flat-screen TV is the sensible option.”
The fees office wrote back saying: “An amount of £3,604.99 is not considered to be an appropriate use of public funds when other more reasonably priced options are available.”
Mr Griffiths told the Telegraph: “I mainly use [them] to watch recordings of Scottish TV news programmes affecting my constituents.
“I also purchased a digital radio, again primarily for listening to BBC Radio Scotland and other stations carrying news of relevance to my constituents.
“I asked the fees office whether these items were refundable and was told to put the request in writing, which I did. The fees office came to the view that they were not eligible for funding.
“None of the items were paid for out of any parliamentary allowance.”
Mr Griffiths previously hit the news when he resigned from his position as deputy leader of the Commons over the renewal of Trident, and after he was caught cheating on his wife in parliament by the News of the World.
