McLeish criticised for taking pay-off

HENRY McLEISH was criticised by fellow MSPs yesterday for taking a £30,000 pay-off from Westminster after informing the Scottish Parliament he would not accept it.

The parliament’s standards committee decided that the former first minister had not breached the MSPs’ code of conduct, but agreed he had not complied with the spirit of the code.

Another Labour politician, Nigel Griffiths, the MP for Edinburgh South, was yesterday cleared by the Westminster parliament’s watchdog body of allegations he broke Commons rules over his parliamentary office in Edinburgh.

The standards and privileges committee and Sir Philip Mower, the parliamentary commissioner, said that although Mr Griffiths’ claim in connection with his Westminster’s office costs allowance was "technically defective", he had not made any money out of it or misused it.

In Edinburgh, the standards committee accepted that Mr McLeish had made an honest statement of intent when he told the parliament he would not accept a re-settlement allowance to which he was entitled when he stood down as the MP for Central Fife.

Mr McLeish had told the MSPs: "I put on record that I will not take financial advantage of the situation."

However, it was confirmed yesterday that he had accepted the money. It has been claimed he used it to help pay back £39,000 to the Westminster fees office for claiming expenses for the running of his constituency office he was not entitled to.

The "Officegate" affair led to Mr McLeish’s resignation as first minister in November last year. He admitted claiming the expenses while his party was receiving income by sub-letting part of the property to other organisations.

Tommy Sheridan, the Scottish Socialist MSP, complained to Sir David Steel, the Presiding Officer, that Mr McLeish had misled parliament by going back on his pledge not to take the Westminster money.

Sir David referred the complaint to the standards committee who asked its adviser, William Spence, the former chief constable of Tayside Police, to carry out an investigation.

Announcing the findings, Mike Rumbles, the convener, said that because it was found Mr McLeish had made his statement to the parliament with honest intent, he had not broken the parliament’s code of conduct.

However, he said the committee members unanimously felt the spirit of the code had been broken as Mr McLeish had not fulfilled the obligation he made in his statement.

Mr Sheridan last night described the committee’s decision as a "whitewash" that would give MSPs a bad name.

Susan Deacon, who was health minister in Mr McLeish’s Cabinet, said she did not believe the former first minister had breached the code, but suggested it was arguable his action was not in accordance with its spirit

Ms Deacon said: " The spontaneous nature of political exchange can often lead to unwitting comments and commitments being made by members which may be difficult to uphold and there are lessons for all of us in that respect.

"I do believe, however, that the highest possible standards of integrity and trust are required from all MSPs and that the actions and events on this occasion are therefore regrettable."

Kay Ullrich, an SNP MSP, said she was disappointed Mr McLeish chose to say one thing to parliament and then do the complete opposite.

Another SNP MSP, Mike Russell, said it was essential the public had faith in the integrity of members’ statements, and even more so with the member who held the highest office in Scotland.