Expense claims 'double standard': Peter Slipper Peter Slipper: 'double standards' claim Former speaker Peter Slipper says it's double standards for him to be facing charges of misusing taxpayer-funded cab dockets when other MPs have been allowed to pay back travel entitlement claims. Recent revelations include senior coalition figures claiming travel allowances for attending weddings and Prime Minister Tony Abbott getting taxpayers to cover his flights and accommodation when he entered various sporting events. Many MPs have since paid back money. "I think that either the charges against me should be dropped or everyone else should be charged," Mr Slipper told ABC TV on Sunday. There's a double standard here. An emotional Mr Slipper also told of how the stress of the James Ashby sexual harassment lawsuit against him cost his wife Inge-Jane Hall a chance at motherhood. She had abandoned IVF treatment following the "politically-motivated allegations" by his former staffer, Mr Slipper said. "Inge was just getting to a situation where she felt her state of mind was such that she could go through that traumatic process (IVF) again then all of a sudden Ashbygate descended," he said. She now feels that (the case) cost her the opportunity to be a mother. Mr Slipper said his life had been destroyed by the "conspiracy" against him. "There's no doubt in my view that Ashbygate reaches to the highest level of the Liberal Party," he said. It was part of a plot to not only destroy my speakership, political career, but also bring down the newly-elected government of Australia. Federal Court judge Steven Rares ruled in December that Mr Ashby had "pursued a political attack" against his former boss, "in combination" with others, including former Howard government minister Mal Brough. Mr Brough, who unseated Mr Slipper when he won the Sunshine Coast seat of Fisher at the September federal election, denies any wrongdoing.