No.10 blocked Griffiths’ sacking

Published on Sunday 16 December 2001 00:00

No. 10 refused to sack the embattled government minister Nigel Griffiths for breaking parliamentary rules because of the fear it could have forced other ministers to quit.

Prime Minister Tony Blair was furious after Scotland on Sunday revealed last week that Griffiths, minister for small business in the Department of Trade and Industry, failed to declare that he owned his constituency office in the Commons register of members’ interests.

No. 10 was equally horrified to learn that the Edinburgh South MP had used the office to claim up to 40,000 in taxpayer-funded office allowances which he then channelled into a trust set up to pay for "treats" for his autistic sister.

But Whitehall sources say Blair did not let Griffiths quit - despite opposition demands for his resignation and adverse UK-wide publicity - because other ministers have also broken the rules on registering interests.

John Prescott, the Deputy Prime Minister, is still refusing to register benefits from his rent-controlled London flat more than 18 months after the Commons standards watchdog urged him to do so.

Elizabeth Filkin, the parliamentary standards commissioner, ruled last year that Prescott had breached Commons rules by failing to declare his low-rent tenancy of a London flat owned by the Rail, Maritime and Transport Union.

One civil service source said: "The thinking at the centre was that if he had let Nigel go for failing to register something in the members’ interests it would have set a very dangerous precedent.

"Look at the John Prescott case and think about what would happen in future if another minister fails to register something. Who knows where it would have led? That was a key argument."

Despite an apology from Griffiths last week and a decision to correct his entry in the register of interests after Scotland on Sunday’s disclosures, he is not yet in the clear.

Following complaints from the Conservatives and the SNP, he still faces a damaging investigation by Filkin over his failure to register his property and incomes.

It has also emerged that he could face a further investigation by Britain’s most senior civil servant.

The SNP’s Westminster chief whip Pete Wishart has written to Sir Richard Wilson, the head of the Home Civil Service, urging an inquiry after compelling evidence suggested Griffiths had broken the ministerial code.

The code requires ministers to provide their permanent secretary, the top civil servant in their department, with a full list of all interests which might be thought to give rise to a conflict of interest.

The list should include property, which is believed to cover Griffiths’ office in Edinburgh’s Minto Street, and also "trusts of which the minister or a spouse or partner is a trustee or beneficiary".

Griffiths and his wife Sally are sole trustees of the Hansel Village Trust, set up in 1994 to provide care, televisions, videos and holidays for his autistic sister Hilary.

Any such breaches could force his resignation because Blair said last year that he expected all ministers "to work within the letter and spirit of the code".

Today further irregularities relating to the minister’s office in Edinburgh can also be revealed. Griffiths secretly hired out his constituency office to two trade unions without declaring the income he received in the register of interests, in strict breach of Commons rules.

The minister admitted that he accepted "token" payments of 25 a time from the unions to regularly use his office.

Griffiths only disclosed details of his financial relationship with the trade unions when he corrected his entry to the register last week after being approached by Scotland on Sunday.