Labour peer Swraj Paul on Tuesday resigned as Deputy Speaker of the House of Lords following his suspension from the House over his expenses claims.
Lord Paul said though he had “reservations” about the decision to suspend him, he had accepted it in keeping with the traditions of parliamentary practice and decided to step down as Deputy Speaker to uphold “parliamentary conventions and proprieties”.
In a letter to the Speaker, Lord Paul said: “I have decided to resign despite the fact that the Committee for Privileges and Conduct and, indeed the House itself, has cleared me of any dishonesty and bad faith. Although I have several reservations, I have accepted the suspension imposed upon me in keeping with the traditions of parliamentary practice.”
He said the whole expenses affair was “inspired by the electoral politics of the media” and believed that he had been a victim of “media and political hostility”. “I am far from alone in being unable to find any rationale for the House authorities to investigate certain members, while not investigating others similarly accused,” Lord Paul wrote adding: “To my mind this situation is fraught with gross injustice and violation of what I had come to believe are the norms of British fairness. It is with regret, therefore, that I feel that I can no longer play a role as Deputy Speaker in upholding the principle of parliamentary independence, at a time when that is needed more than ever.”
Lord Paul and two others — Baroness Manzila Pola Uddin and Lord Amir Bhatia — were suspended last month on the recommendations of the House of Lords Committee for Privileges and Conduct which inquired into allegations that they wrongly claimed parliamentary expenses.
Lord Paul was suspended for four months, Baroness Uddin until Easter 2012 and Lord Bhatia for eight months.
The claims relate to the peers' entitlement to a “second home” allowance if their main residence is outside London.
The committee found that all three “had long-established London residences, in which they spent the bulk of their time, before acquiring a ‘main residence' outside London, in which they spent a much smaller portion of their time”.
It said Lord Paul “freely admitted” he never spent a night at the one-bedroom flat in Oxfordshire that he designated as his “main residence” between late 2005 and end of July 2006 but acknowledged that he had not acted “dishonestly” or in “bad faith”.
