FRESH DOUBTS have been raised about British home secretary Jacqui Smith’s survival following another controversy concerning her parliamentary expenses claims.
This one involves a television package through which her husband viewed two adult movies.
Ms Smith – who is already under investigation by the parliamentary standards commissioner over her use of MPs’ second home allowance – was reportedly “livid” with her husband, Richard Timney, when she found out about the films. The movies cost £5 each and were reportedly watched at her family home in Redditch.
Mr Timney declared himself “really sorry for any embarrassment” he had caused his wife following yesterday’s Mail on Sunday front-page revelation under the headline “Jacqui Smith Blue Movies on Expenses”.
Mr Timney said: “I can fully understand why people might be angry and offended by this. Quite obviously a claim should never have been made for these films, and, as you know, that money is being paid back.”
Ms Smith had said earlier she had “mistakenly” submitted a £67 (€72) claim for five pay-per-view films, including the two adult movies, when claiming for her internet connection. “As soon as the matter was brought to my attention I took immediate steps to contact the relevant parliamentary authorities and rectify the situation. All money claimed for the television package will be paid back in full,” she said.
Ms Smith made clear she had no intention of resigning while Downing Street said the home secretary had done “the right thing” by acting to rectify an inadvertent mistake. Scottish National Party MP Angus Robertson, however, suggested Ms Smith’s credibility was in “tatters” and that there were now “real questions” over her future as home secretary.
Ms Smith is under investigation following an earlier Mail on Sunday revelation that she has apparently maximised the benefit of permitted allowances by claiming more than £116,000 on her family home in her west Midlands constituency while listing her sister’s London house, in which she lodges during the week, as her main residence.
Conservative MP Philip Davies said: “Claiming that her sister’s back bedroom is her main home is one thing, but this could push her over the cliff.”
Prime minister Gordon Brown ordered a review of MPs’ pay and allowances last week after the same newspaper revealed that minister of state for employment Tony McNulty had claimed some £60,000 in second-home allowances on his parents’ house in Harrow even though he lives elsewhere in London.