MP files complaint over Coulson’s NI pay-off

Labour MP Tom Watson has complained that when Mr Coulson received a parliamentary pass, sponsored by the Prime Minister David Cameron, in September 2007, he did not declare he was receiving health insurance, a company car and severance payments from his former employers.

The rules state that anyone with a pass must declare work for which they receive more than £329 in a calendar year.

Yesterday, a spokeswoman for the Commissioner’s office said it was looking into the matter. She said: “We have received a complaint. It’s under consideration.”

Mr Watson, a member of the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, added: “Our committee is examining the previous evidence given to it as part of the hacking inquiry.

“I am sure the Standards Commissioner will help contribute to Parliament getting to the facts of this case.”

Earlier this week it emerged Mr Coulson was not asked about his severance package from News International when he took up his job as Mr Cameron’s communications chief.

The payments – said to have continued for several months after he took up his new job and totalling hundreds of thousands of pounds – were regarded as “a private matter”.