TIMESONLINE: Shahid Malik, the Justice Minister exposed as the biggest expenses claimant of all MPs, was forced to step down today to await the outcome of an inquiry into his living costs.
Downing Street said that Gordon Brown asked Sir Philip Mawer, the Prime Minister’s independent adviser on ministers’ interests, to investigate whether Mr Malik’s alleged benefit of a subsidised rent breached the ministerial code.
The announcement by No 10 came minutes after the Labour MP for Dewsbury had refused to apologise, offering instead to donate the cost of his 40ins flat-screen television to a local charity.
He said that his second-home allowance of £66,827 over three years was “one million per cent by the book” and insisted that he would not return any of the money to the taxpayer[.] Shahid Malik Stands Down as Justice Minister after PM Orders Inquiry into His Expenses >>> Philip Webster, Political Editor and Nico Hines | Friday, May 15, 2009
