Parliament: Scandal claims first casualty

David Chaytor, who lives at Lumbutts in Todmorden, became the first politician to acquire a criminal conviction in connection with the expenses scandal when he pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey to three charges of false accounting.

Chaytor, 61, had previously denied the charges and was due to stand trial at London's Southwark Crown Court on Monday. However, during a hearing yesterday at the Old Bailey in London he changed his stance and entered a guilty plea for the charges.

The former MP for Bury North made his U-turn after an attempted legal challenge to stop his trial ended in failure. He now faces a maximum seven-year jail term, a punishment that is likely to be softened because of his guilty plea. He is set to be sentenced in early January.

Chaytor, alongside two other MPs, had previously tried to argue that to bring criminal proceedings against them would infringe parliamentary privilege. However, this was rejected on Wednesday by the Supreme Court.

Chaytor, a former lecturer, had held his seat since 1997 – when Labour was elected with a landslide majority – when the expenses scandal broke last year.

Following the revelations he apologised "unreservedly" for what he called an "unforgivable error in my accounting procedures" and even referred himself to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, John Lyon.

Chaytor was also suspended from the Parliamentary Labour Party for his claims. He was charged by police in February of this year.

Hundreds of MPs were ordered to repay a total of 1.12m in the wake of the expenses scandal.

Three other former MPs and two members of the House of Lords were also charged by police in relation to their expenses and are to face trial later.

Yesterday James Sturman QC, defending, told Mr Justice Saunders: "There are many misconceptions about the case which we will wish to put right on January 7.

"Obviously he accepts this is a serious matter. There is no loss to the public purse. Any sums claimed have been, or will be repaid."

Mr Sturman said 13,000 had already been paid.

He asked for a pre-sentence report and said he expected to call character witnesses during the sentencing hearing.

He said that in coverage of the case so far there had been "a total failure to reflect that his case reflects appropriate claims gone about in the wrong way".

Mr Sturman said: "There was some entitlement in his case but he did it in such a way which he concedes by his plea of guilty."

Peter Wright QC, prosecuting, said it was accepted that there was no "actual loss" to the public purse in respect of the money falsely charged for information technology services.

The judge allowed reporting of the case, saying: "This is a matter of intense public interest."

He said the case was "entirely separate" to the other impending trials involving Parliamentary expenses.

The Metropolitan Police spokesman said: "The Metropolitan Police Service welcomes today's guilty pleas that follow a thorough and detailed investigation of David Chaytor's Parliamentary claims whilst Member of Parliament for Bury North."

Reaction amongst Chaytor's former constituents in Bury showed that anger over the expenses scandal was still running strong.

Norma Kirk, 61, a retired shop worker, said: "I think he should have pleaded guilty right from the start, not try to get out of it.

"I think it is absolutely disgusting what he did. There's people working for the minimum wage while he's fleecing the system. He should get sent to prison because that's what would happen to me or you if we had done what he's done."

Others due to face separate trials involving their expenses are former Scunthorpe Labour MP Elliot Morley, former Labour MP for Livingston Jim Devine, former Barnsley Central Labour MP Eric Illsley, Tory peer Lord Hanningfield and Lord Taylor of Warwick, a former Tory peer.

Chaytor was mobbed by photographers as he left the court with his legal team and got in a black taxi. He did not make any comment.

Speaking outside the Old Bailey, Simon Clements, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said: "David Chaytor has admitted his dishonesty and will now face the consequences of his actions.

"No one, no matter what their position, should be allowed to take money they are not entitled to. By his actions David Chaytor has abused the trust placed in him by the public.

"I would remind everyone that today is about David Chaytor alone. Nothing that happened today should reflect on any defendant in any other case."

North-west byelection set to be crucial test for coalition

THE New Year byelection at Oldham East and Saddleworth constituency is set to be a crucial test, not only for Labour – whose MP Phil Woolas has been unseated in a court ruling – but also for the coalition Government.

Mr Woolas, former Immigration Minister, was returned in May by a majority of just 103 but was ousted by an election court in the first such judgment for 99 years.

Under normal mid term by-election conditions Liberal Democrats would be easily expected to take such a seat but since forming the coalition with Tories they have slumped in opinion polls to as low as nine per cent.

Defeat at Oldham would further depress Liberal Democrats' morale and increase strains within the coalition Government.

British National Party leader Nick Griffin, a North West Euro-MP, has suggested he may stand in the Oldham election when it is held.

He wrote on social networking site Twitter: "Our local organiser well up for it with me as candidate."