Police urged to investigate ex-minister over illegal cleaner row

Labour backbencher John Mann has written to Scotland Yard commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe asking for a probe into whether the law was broken.

Mr Harper resigned over the weekend after admitting he had failed to make sufficiently rigorous checks on his cleaner’s status. The Tory had been responsible in the Commons for the Immigration Bill – which among other changes seeks to double the fines on employers who recruit illegal immigrants to £20,000 per case.

David Cameron said he accepted the resignation “with regret”.

Theresa May yesterday described Mr Harper as an “excellent minister” and dismissed the idea that he had broken the law.

“Mark has said very clearly that he felt he should hold himself to a higher standard,” she told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

But Mr Mann said: “I have referred Mark Harper to the police as legal experts are suggesting that by employing an illegal immigrant and failing to keep the relevant documents, he may well have broken the law.

“The idea of Harper’s resignation being ‘honourable’ is nonsense. As Immigration Minister, he claimed more than £2,000 in expenses from the taxpayer to pay an illegal immigrant to clean his home and iron his clothes.

“I have already called for Mark Harper to reject the £8,000 pay-off he can expect after quitting. That however is not enough.”