Why we need transparency
A senior Tory MP was forced to apologise “unreservedly” to Parliament today after an investigation recommended he be suspended for paying his “all-but-invisible” son £1,000 per month in taxpayers’ money.
The House of Commons Standards and Privileges Committee was scathing about the £11,773 per year salary, plus bonuses, paid by Derek Conway to his son, Frederick, who was studying at Newcastle University at the time.
Recommending a 10-day suspension – and that Mr Conway apologise personally to the House – the committee said it was “astonished” to find there appeared to be no evidence of any aspect of Frederick’s work.
As well as his yearly salary, he also received four one-off bonuses between September 2005 and May 2007 totalling just over £10,000.
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