THE Tory MEP appointed by David Cameron to act as a "sleazebuster" in the European Parliament has been forced to resign his post after being embroiled in an expenses row.
Giles Chichester quit as leader of the Conservative group in Brussels after channelling some £445,000 in staff allowances to a business run by his family.
He admitted paying the money to the family firm, some of it after regulations had been tight
ened. But he brushed off the mistake as a "technical" breach of European Parliament rules.
Mr Chichester, son of the late round-the-world yachtsman Sir Francis, is staying on as an MEP for now, but he stepped down from the top Tory job to limit the embarrassment to Mr Cameron, who asked him only three months ago to clean up Conservative MEPs' allowances in the wake of the Westminster scandal involving MP Derek Conway. Mr Chichester told a regional TV station: "It is embarrassing, not least because I have introduced a new code of guidelines for my Conservative colleagues for expenses.
"Here I am leading that process for the last couple of months and, whoops-a-daisy, I am shown up to have made a mistake. OK, hands up, mea culpa, and I am putting it right."
In an official statement yesterday, he apologised for being in breach of parliamentary rules.
"I wish to allow myself the space to prepare my report to the parliamentary authorities and demonstrate that monies were properly spent and accounted for," he said.
Mr Chichester, who represents the South West of England, has already been reselected for the next European elections, although it was not clear last night whether he would be stripped of his place on the list.
The controversy erupted after reports emerged that family firm Francis Chichester Ltd – founded by his father to publish maps – had received £445,000 from EU coffers since 1996 "in connection with secretarial and assistant services for the European Parliament, constituency and committee work".
While the contract was formally registered with the European Parliament, a rule change five years ago banned the channelling of MEPs' expenses for parliamentary staff through companies of which they were a member.
Mr Chichester said the rule change "had not been brought to my attention".
Yesterday, Mr Cameron said Mr Chichester had been right to stand down as the head of the Conservative MEPs. The Tory leader went on: "Just as I expect our MPs to adhere to the highest standards, so must our MEPs.The taxpaying public have a right to know how their money is being spent and politicians have a duty to ensure it is spent properly."
Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister, when asked about the resignation, pointed out that Labour MEPs were all audited. "This is public money that has got to be explained for its use," he added.
The pressure group Open Europe last night called for Mr Chichester to stand down as an MEP.
PROFILEGILES Chichester, 61, has been an MEP since 1994 but spent years working his way up through the Tory Party organisation, most notably as the personal assistant to Lord Tebbit as he masterminded the 1987 Conservative general election victory.
Married with three adult children, Mr Chichester has spent most of his working life in the family firm set up by his late father, Sir Francis Chichester, the first person to single-handedly sail round the world in 1967 in Gipsy Moth.
He became the chairman and de facto leader of the Tory MEPs in Brussels only last December. He represents South West England and Gibraltar and is believed to have battled cancer recently.
In the parliament, he has fought against the threat to pounds and ounces and the British pint. He has also condemned the "circus" of switching the parliament's business between Brussels and Strasbourg, which costs £170million a year and requires 3,000 staff to move.
The full article contains 657 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
