Lord Hanningfield steps down from front bench House of Lords role in wake of expenses scandal

Published on Friday 5 February 2010 12:43

CONSERVATIVE peer Lord Hanningfield is to step down from his position as Conservative business spokesman in the House of Lords.

• Lord Hanningfield

Lord Hanningfield faces six charges of false accounting relating to claims that he claimed for overnight expenses in London when records

allegedly show that he was driven home and did not stay in the capital.

Reports have suggested that the 69-year-old peer claimed 99,970 in "overnight subsistence" after becoming a peer in 1998.

It is alleged that Hanningfield, who is also leader of Essex County Council, submitted the claims between March 2006 and May 2009.

The Conservative Party released a statement today said that confirmed the peer had stepped down from his front bench role in the Lords.

Lord Hanningfield today issued a firm denial of the charges and said he planned to launch a "vigorous" defence.

"I am extremely disappointed by today's announcement that I am to be charged. All the claims I have ever made were made in good faith," he insisted in a statement.

"I have co-operated fully with the police throughout their inquiries. I totally refute the charges and will vigorously defend myself against them.

"I have never claimed more in expenses than I have spent in the course of my duties.

"To avoid any embarrassment or distraction for my party, I am standing down from my frontbench duties in the House of Lords with immediate effect."

A Conservative Party spokesman also confirmed that Lord Hanningfield had resigned the Conservative whip in the Lords.

"David Cameron has also asked Lord Strathclyde, Leader of the Opposition in the House of Lords, to suspend the Conservative whip with immediate effect.

"The Conservative Party has led the way in dealing with the MPs expenses scandal.

"We were the first to publish the Right To Know form, the first to require the front bench to put their expenses online and the only party to have carried out a scrutiny of all our MPs expenses – leading to the paying back of over 250,000."

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