BRITISH CABINET minister Baroness Warsi was under mounting pressure yesterday amid allegations that she claimed parliamentary expenses for accommodation while staying at a friend’s house rent-free.
The Conservative Party co- chairman faced calls from Labour and a former sleaze watchdog for a full investigation into her expenses claims.
There was little sign of support from Downing Street or fellow ministers. Tory deputy chairman Michael Fallon said the peer “believes” she acted within the rules, but admitted that the controversy was embarrassing for the party.
Lady Warsi insisted she made an “appropriate payment” to her friend – Tory official Naweed Khan, who is now one of her aides – for the nights she stayed at the property in Acton, west London.
Mr Khan supported her assertion, releasing a statement saying she made a payment each time she stayed. But the property’s owner, GP and former Conservative donor Wafik Moustafa, denied receiving any income from either Lady Warsi or Mr Khan.
The Tory peer, now a Cabinet Office minister, was claiming Lords subsistence of £165.50 a night at the time the allegations relate to, in 2008.
Sir Alistair Graham, a former chairman of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, said: “At the moment it all looks very muddy and blurred and worthy of a full investigation.”
He suggested that if there was an investigation then Lady Warsi should relinquish her ministerial office until any inquiries were complete.
“I personally am always of the view, when ministers face very serious allegations that seem to have some strength to them, it’s better that they stand down from their ministerial post while that investigation takes place, but of course that is a matter for the prime minister,” he said.
Labour MP John Mann said he would be writing to the Lords standards commissioner asking for an investigation. “If you are paying no rent where you are staying, you can’t possibly be claiming subsistence for staying there,” he said.
In a further embarrassment for Lady Warsi, the most senior Muslim politician in Britain, she was forced to admit failing to declare rental income on a London flat in the Lords register of interests.
She said the omission was due to an “oversight”, adding that she had reported the letting of her Wembley flat in the register of ministers’ interests.
The arrangement had also been declared to the Cabinet Office and HM Revenue and Customs, she said. The peer bought the property in 2007 but moved closer to parliament when she became a minister in 2010, after which she began letting the Wembley flat.
Peers are required to declare sources of income of more than £500. The annual rent on a London flat is likely to be many times greater than that.
Meanwhile, deputy prime minister and Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg said gay marriage was not the kind of political issue that should be left to MPs’ consciences.
Mr Clegg said his MPs would back legislation legalising same-sex marriages – unlike some of their coalition partners.
Tory MPs will be allowed a free vote to avoid a rebellion from Tory MPs and ministers opposed to the issue. But Mr Clegg said: “We are not asking any person with religious convictions to sacrifice anything. We are simply saying those who want to show a lifelong commitment to each other should be able to do so.”
He told BBC1’s Andrew Marr Show yesterday: “In the same way the civil partnerships legislation which was introduced under Labour was a whipped vote, I personally don’t think this is something which should be subject to a great free for all because we are not asking people to make a decision of conscience.”
He added: “If this was an issue that somehow the Government was proposing something that would somehow be an imposition on religion or the churches, then of course that would be a matter of conscience. We are not.”
Northern Ireland Secretary Owen Paterson is one of those Tories to have declared his opposition to same-sex marriage. – (PA)