Clarke hits at ‘lynch mob’ media targeting colleagues

The Justice Secretary dismissed some of the allegations against the Tory peer as “downright silly” and “pedantic”.

The comments came as the House of Lords Commissioner for Standards Paul Kernaghan launched a formal investigation into Baroness Warsi’s use of expenses. David Cameron has delivered a strong signal that Lady Warsi’s job is safe, however.

The Prime Minister said he was “very happy” with the Conservative Party chairman’s explanation after it emerged she took relative and business partner Abid Hussain on an official trip to Pakistan. He also dismissed accusations that he was employing double standards by resisting an investigation into Mr Hunt, saying the two cases were “very different”.

Mr Hussain accompanied the Tory peer when she visited Pakistan in July 2010, soon after the coalition came to power.

In a letter apologising to the Premier, Lady Warsi described Mr Hussain as a “community activist” who had helped the British High Commission with outreach events.

Although it was “widely known” that Mr Hussain was her husband’s second cousin, she had not realised the need to declare that they also had “a common business interest as minority shareholders in a small food company”.

Mr Cameron responded that there were “clearly some issues for future handling” and his independent adviser on ministerial interests, Sir Alex Allan, would be considering “the issues that have been raised with respect to the Ministerial Code”.

In broadcast interviews, the Prime Minister batted away suggestions that Lady Warsi was being treated more harshly than Mr Hunt, who has not faced investigation by Sir Alex over his handling of News Corporation’s BSkyB bid.

Mr Clarke told BBC Radio 4’s PM programme it was right that senior politicians were put under “very close scrutiny”.

“But there is a bit of a fashion at the moment, the media do tend to act as a bit of a pack and they are steadily working through my colleagues trying to find things to complain about,” he said.