Alan Duncan has been cleared today of breaking second home allowance rules.
He was absolved by the Commons standards and privileges committee, who said that Duncan was obeying “the rules at the time” when he claimed the allowance for his second home on which he was not paying a mortgage.
Duncan originally secured a mortgage on his London home to purchase his house in his Rutland constituency, East Midlands. He then claimed allowances from 1992 to 2004, but used the money to pay for the interest on his mortgage for his London property.
In 2004, the former frontbencher ended the arrangement and took out a new mortgage for his Rutland home in a decision to tidy up his affairs.
Parliamentary commissioner for standards, John Lyon, told The Guardian: “The costs incurred as a result of Mr Duncan’s mortgage secured on his London home were solely and exclusively for his constituency property. They were incurred as a result of his overnight stays in his constituency home and away from his London home on parliamentary duties.
“The costs arising from his occupancy of his constituency property were in my judgement a legitimate call on his [second-home allowance].”
Duncan asked Lyon to investigate his case after the Daily Telegraph published a critical story about his expenses.
Currently, MP’s can make referrals to the parliamentary commissioner for standards, but cases will be investigated if the standards and privileges committee agrees. In this case the committee gave permission for an inquiry because of the large amount of money that was involved.
However, the committee pointed out in the report that it didn’t want MP’s making a habit of referring themselves to the commissioner, simply as a means of refuting unfounded allegations published by the press.
Earlier this year, Duncan was demoted from his post as shadow leader of the Commons after making complaints about MP’s being forced to “live on rations”.