More like this
Shahid Malik back in spotlight
The junior minister makes the Daily Telegraph front page yet again with reports that he has claimed for two offices
Within hours of the Labour MP Shahid Malik returning to the Government after being cleared of breaking the ministerial code of conduct, the Daily Telegraph today raises further questions over Malik's use of Commons allowances.
Malik was justice minister when he stepped down from his post on May 14 while Downing Street's standards watchdog Sir Philip Mawer looked into whether he had failed to declare a subsidised rent of only £100 a week on a home in Dewsbury, his Yorkshire constituency.
Sir Philip found that Malik had paid a market rate for both the house and a constituency office rented from the same man, Tahir 'Terry' Zaman, and cleared Malik of any wrongdoing.
Yesterday, Malik - who complained that "it took me 15 years to build my name and reputation and tragically it was trashed in one mad media day" - was welcomed back into the government in his new capacity as communities minister.
But his return has immediately been spoiled by a further report in the Daily Telegraph, still using the leaked material from the Commons Fees Office that it first began exploiting for front page exclusives on May 8.
In today's paper, it is reported that as well as claiming £6,000 a year for the cost of renting his constituency office from Zaman, Malik has claimed a further £200 a month over nearly three years to pay for a "mysterious" second office, referred to in his allowance claims as 'Office 2'.
The Telegraph says that when its reporters contacted Malik yesterday to enquire about 'Office 2', the MP declined to divulge where it was or from whom it was rented.
He issued a statement saying only: "This is a claim for additional office space that I used for constituency business the details of which were properly logged with the House authorities. The amount claimed covers the rent of the property. It was necessary for me to have an additional office space to carry out my duties effectively." ·
Comments are now closed on this article
Comments
200 pounds?!
The Telegraph's "exposes" have too often descended into trivial farce.
Other media should be doing in-depth investigations into the truly awesome amounts this government has bequethed to the banks: where has this money gone? To what benefit? How can it begin to be paid back? Will Brown's legacy be bankrupt Britain?
In the wake of the expenses scandal (sic), the public were supposed to be angry, fired up, ready to take revenge on the main politcal parties.
Instead, in the local and EU elections, they mostly couldn't even be bothered to turn up to their nearby polling station and vote!
We get the governement and politicians we deserve.
Apathy.
He lived in London prior to becoming an MP. So at that time his London home was his first (only) home. After declaring his rented Dewsbury house as his first home (he said the rules required him to do that, because he spent over half his time there) he claimed over 66,000 expenses on his London home, the one where he lived before becomimg an MP and where he still lives, except when he is in Dewsbury in inexpensive rented accomodation. Just because it looks crooked does not mean it is not fully legal.