A CONSERVATIVE shadow Cabinet minister will face the parliamentary watchdog today to discuss her use of public funds to pay her nanny after the row over Tory expenses spread back to Westminster.
Caroline Spelman, who denies any wrongdoing, will meet John Lyons, the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner, to discuss claims that she misused public funds.
Her meeting follows controversies over expenses embroiling three Conservative MEPs, leavi
ng David Cameron's mission to clear up sleaze in tatters.
However, in London, senior Conservatives have drawn a clear distinction with Mrs Spelman's case.
The deputy Conservative chairman had paid Tina Haynes, her nanny, from parliamentary allowances between 1997 and 1998, but insisted that she also carried out parliamentary work as her constituency secretary.
This weekend it emerged that a Scottish Tory MEP, John Purvis, had also admitted paying £120,000 in allowances to a family firm.
And in another revelation, it was reported that Sir Robert Atkins, a Tory MEP and former minister, used his parliamentary expenses to fly to his son's wedding in America.
Den Dover, the party's chief whip in Brussels, quit over the weekend after paying his wife and daughter a reported £758,000 over nine years through a company for secretarial and support services. On Thursday, Giles Chichester, the Conservative leader in the European Parliament, resigned his post after it emerged he transferred more than £400,000 of staff expenses to a private family company.
The Conservatives last night closed ranks around Mrs Spelman, insisting they found it difficult to believe she would do anything wrong.
David Davis, the shadow Home Secretary, said: "I would be amazed if there's any substance to this.
"She says this is something she did for one year, and thought it might be misrepresented or misinterpreted, it wasn't outside the rules at the time and she put it right then."
Andrew Mitchell, the shadow international development secretary, pointed out Mrs Spelman had referred herself to parliament's standards watchdog.
"Those of us who work with Caroline would find it very difficult to believe she would willingly do anything wrong," he said.
However, John Mann, a Labour MP, has called for more evidence to prove that Ms Haynes did work as Mrs Spelman's constituency secretary.
The full article contains 377 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
