Monday 1 June 2009

NOT SO SMALL TIME CROOKS part one


FINGERS IN THE TILL

Chancellor Alastair Darling is facing further potentially damaging allegations about his expenses.

The Daily Telegraph says he claimed for costs on a flat in south London while claiming allowances on his grace-and-favour home in Downing Street.

A spokesman for Mr Darling said the allegations were "simply untrue".

The Daily Telegraph reports that in July 2007, shortly after he became chancellor, Mr Darling submitted a claim of £1,000 for the service charge on his south London flat.

The paper says the charge covered a six-month period, during which he began to claim second home allowances for his grace-and-favour home too.

A spokesman for Mr Darling said the report was wrong.

"The allegation of double claiming is simply untrue. He paid the bills due for his flat until he moved out in September 2007 after which he made no further claims for it," he said.

Before this story appeared, the Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg had already called for Mr Darling to be sacked because of his expenses claims, saying his finances had to be beyond reproach.

The chancellor, however, has always said his use of allowances had been within the rules.

From http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8076405.stm

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