Minister 'sorry' as expenses scandal hits coalition
Updated on 29 May 2010
Treasury minister David Laws has apologised for claiming £40,000 in expenses to rent a property owned by his partner as a former senior Tory tells Channel 4 News that "bright" Laws should keep his job.
Laws claimed back the rent for a room he rented from his long-term partner - something which Parliamentary rules ban.
Mr Laws has apologised, said he will pay back the money immediately, and referred himself to the parliamentary standards commissioner. Details of the expenses claim emerged in today's Daily Telegraph.
Mr Laws, the MP for Yeovil in Somerset, also chose to 'out' himself as gay - although the newspaper stressed it had not intended to reveal his sexuality.
For five years he claimed up to £950 a month to rent rooms in two properties owned by lobbyist James Lundie, who has worked as an advisor in the past to former Liberal Democrat leaders Lord Ashdown and Charles Kennedy.
In a statement Mr Laws, a millionaire former City banker, said: "At no point did I consider myself to be in breach of the rules which in 2009 defined partner as 'one of a couple... who, although not married to each-other or civil partners, are living together and treat each other as spouses'.
"Although we were living together we did not treat each other as spouses - for example, we do not share bank accounts and indeed have separate social lives. However, I now accept that this was open to interpretation...
"James and I are intensely private people. We made the decision to keep our relationship private and believed that was our right. Clearly that cannot now remain the case. My motivation throughout has not been to maximise profit but to simply protect our privacy and my wish not to reveal my sexuality."
Mr Laws insisted that, despite having been in a relationship with Mr Lundie since 2001, the fact had been "unknown to both family and friends throughout that time".
He added: "I regret this situation deeply, accept that I should not have claimed my expenses in this way and apologise fully."
Downing Street issued a short response on behalf of David Cameron, saying: "The prime minister has been made aware of this situation and agrees with David Laws' decision to self-refer to the parliamentary standards commissioner."
Support
Former Conservative MP Howard Flight, who left parliament in 2005, knows David Laws from when they overlapped as the shadow chief secretaries to the Treasury for their respective parties.
Speaking to Channel 4 News, he said: “If he had registered as a partnership, like an MP and a spouse or as a civil partnership, then he would have been able to claim all of the expenses on a house, not just a fraction of them which he did claim.
“He did it in this way to protect his privacy and it is not unreasonable to want to keep his private life private."
He said he wanted Laws to remain in post as he was so well suited for the role, but acknowledged he was in a "tricky" position.
"He is a particularly suitable and able person to do the job partly because he has spent several years as shadow chief secretary to the Treasury and partly because he is a very able and bright person," he said.
“If he ends up in a position for whatever reason where he has to stand down, it won’t affect the government because what needs to be done will be done. But they will have to find someone as able as him to do it."
“From a personal perspective I support him fully and feel very sympathetic to him for being wrongly thus embarrassed," he added.
Coalition setback
The revelations are a major setback for the Tory-Lib Dem coalition, and will be the first test of how Mr Cameron and Mr Clegg co-operate over people management.
Mr Laws was a pivotal figure in the negotiations between the parties after the inconclusive General Election result. Since taking on the role as Mr Osborne's Treasury deputy in the coalition, Mr Laws has impressed Tories with the vigorous way he has set about implementing spending cuts, and his strong performance defending the first £6.2 billion of reductions in the House of Commons this week.
The controversy over his own expenses could undermine his credibility in cracking down on pay and perks for the public sector - one of the main targets in the drive to save government money and tackle the deficit.
Speaking to The Times after news of the row broke, Mr Laws said: "When I grew up, being gay was not accepted by most people, including many of my friends. So I have kept this secret from everyone I know for every day of my life. That has not been easy, and in some ways it is a relief not to have to go on misleading those close to me about who I am."
On Thursday, the newspaper asked him what his family situation was and he replied: "single". Asked whether he had a partner he said: "No".
Laws' apology in full
"I've been involved in a relationship with James Lundie since around 2001 - about two years after first moving in with him. Our relationship has been unknown to both family and friends throughout that time.
"I claimed back the costs of sharing a home in Kennington with James from 2001 to June 2007.
"In June 2007 James bought a new home in London and I continued to claim back my share of the costs.
"I extended the mortgage on my Somerset property - for which I do not claim any allowances or expenses - to help James purchase the new property.
"In 2006 the Green Book rules were changed to prohibit payments to partners.
"At no point did I consider myself to be in breach of the rules which in 2009 defined partner as "one of a couple ... who although not married to each-other or civil partners are living together and treat each-other as spouses".
"Although we were living together we did not treat each other as spouses - for example we do not share bank accounts and indeed have separate social lives.
"However, I now accept that this was open to interpretation and will immediately pay back the costs of the rent and other housing costs I claimed from the time the rules changed until August 2009.
"James and I are intensely private people. We made the decision to keep our relationship private and believed that was our right. Clearly that cannot now remain the case.
"My motivation throughout has not been to maximise profit but to simply protect our privacy and my wish not to reveal my sexuality.
"However, I regret this situation deeply, accept that I should not have claimed my expenses in this way and apologise fully.
"I have also referred myself to the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner."
