This article is from the source 'bbc' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/uk-politics-13558360
The article has changed 6 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| Lord Hanningfield convicted over parliamentary expenses | Lord Hanningfield convicted over parliamentary expenses |
| (40 minutes later) | |
| The peer and former Essex Council leader Lord Hanningfield has been found guilty of fiddling his expenses. | The peer and former Essex Council leader Lord Hanningfield has been found guilty of fiddling his expenses. |
| Paul White, 70, had denied six counts of false accounting relating to his parliamentary expenses. | Paul White, 70, had denied six counts of false accounting relating to his parliamentary expenses. |
| The prosecution said he had claimed for overnight stays in London between March 2006 and April 2009, when he had actually returned home to Essex. | The prosecution said he had claimed for overnight stays in London between March 2006 and April 2009, when he had actually returned home to Essex. |
| The peer told the court he had seen it as a "living-out-of-London allowance" rather than overnight subsistence. | The peer told the court he had seen it as a "living-out-of-London allowance" rather than overnight subsistence. |
| The jury at Chelmsford Crown Court found White guilty on all six counts and he will be sentenced in six weeks' time. | The jury at Chelmsford Crown Court found White guilty on all six counts and he will be sentenced in six weeks' time. |
| Members of the House of Lords were able to claim up to £174-a-night to stay in London when attending Parliament, if their main home was outside the city. | |
| But the trial heard White had made claims for journeys and overnight stays in London, which he never made. | |
| The prosecution said on occasions between March 2006 and May 2009 when he made claims for overnight stays, he usually made the 50-mile trip home. | |
| But they also pointed out on one occasion he was on a plane bound for India at the time, on others he was "at hotels outside London all paid for by someone else, mainly Essex County Council". | |
| The peer argued he had subsidised his long years of public service out of his pocket, and said most other peers claimed the maximum under the allowance. | |
| The trial heard he had told police: "It is an allowance scheme, not a reimbursement scheme. Quite honestly, people see it as a way of recouping what we spend." | |
| White, who was an Essex councillor for 40 years and led the council from 2001 until he was charged in 2010, was made a life peer in 1998. He was a frontbench spokesman on business while the Conservatives were in opposition. | White, who was an Essex councillor for 40 years and led the council from 2001 until he was charged in 2010, was made a life peer in 1998. He was a frontbench spokesman on business while the Conservatives were in opposition. |
| He was suspended from the Parliamentary Conservative party when he was charged. | He was suspended from the Parliamentary Conservative party when he was charged. |