MPs face expenses fiddling trial after judge throws out 'privilege' appeal

FORMER Scunthorpe MP Elliot Morley and three other politicians face a criminal trial over expenses-fiddling allegations after a ruling against them by the Court of Appeal.

The Lord Chief Justice Lord Judge, and two other judges sitting in London, rejected argument by former Scunthorpe MP Elliot Morley, of Winterton, North Lincolnshire, David Chaytor, of Todmorden, West Yorkshire, Jim Devine and Lord Hanningfield, that they are protected from prosecution by parliamentary privilege.

It is open to the four, who deny theft by false accounting, to seek to take their cases to the Supreme Court - the highest court in the land - for a further challenge.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

At the centre of the appeal was a submission that any investigation into their expenses claims and the imposition of any sanctions "should lie within the hands of Parliament".

The judges were told at a hearing in June that the challenge was not an attempt to "take them above the law", but to ensure they were adjudicated by the "correct law and the correct body".

It was said by the defendants that submitting an expenses form was part of the proceedings of Parliament, and therefore protected by parliamentary privilege.

The decision by Lord Judge, Master of the Rolls Lord Neuberger and Sir Anthony May upheld an earlier ruling by a judge at Southwark Crown Court in central London that they were not protected by parliamentary privilege.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

In a judgment citing cases from as far back at 1629, Lord Judge said: "It can confidently be stated that parliamentary privilege or immunity from criminal prosecution has never, ever attached to ordinary criminal activities by Members of Parliament."

The court could not "discern from principle or authority that privilege or immunity in relation to such conduct may arise merely because the allegations are based on activities which have taken place 'within the walls' of Parliament".

Former Bury North MP Chaytor, 60; ex-Scunthorpe MP Morley, 58; Devine, 57, of Bathgate, West Lothian, formerly MP for Livingston; and former Essex County Council leader Lord Hanningfield, who is also known as Paul White, 69, are all on unconditional bail and due to stand separate trials at Southwark Crown Court.