New expenses row adds to Cameron's many woes
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's first Muslim woman to hold a cabinet post fought back on Monday against allegations she had made improper expense claims, the latest in a series of public relations disasters to hit her political patron, Prime Minister David Cameron.
Sayeeda Warsi, a lawyer of South Asian origin who describes herself as a "Northern, working-class roots, urban, working mum", cuts an unusual figure in Cameron's Conservative Party, whose leadership is dominated by privileged white men from the affluent south.
Cameron elevated Warsi in 2007 to the House of Lords, giving her the title of Baroness, and when he took office in 2010 he made her party chairman and gave her a seat at the cabinet table. Her rise was widely interpreted as part of Cameron's drive to rebrand the Conservatives and broaden their appeal.
But the strategy risked backfiring after Warsi was accused on Sunday of claiming taxpayers' money for overnight stays in London during visits on House of Lords business in 2008 when she was in fact staying for free with a party colleague.
"I take these allegations very seriously," Warsi said on Monday in Malaysia, where she was on an official visit. "It's why I said right at the outset that I would fully cooperate with any investigation," she told the television channel ITV, denying that she had done anything wrong.
The slightest whiff of scandal related to expenses is political poison in Britain since a huge scandal over hundreds of dubious claims filed by lawmakers from both main parties dominated the news agenda for much of 2009.
"It stretches credulity that after all the expenses scandals, and all the transparency pledges by David Cameron, someone so senior should get into such a mess," said the popular Sun newspaper in a Monday editorial.
The Warsi expenses row comes at a terrible time for Cameron, whose reputation has been battered over the past two months by an unpopular tax cut for high earners, a scandal over big party donors gaining access to him and endless embarrassing details about his party's courting of Rupert Murdoch's media empire.
Warsi has referred the allegations against her to the House of Lords commissioner for standards, who will consider whether an investigation is necessary.
The man making the allegations, medical doctor Wafik Moustafa, was reported by several newspapers to have a grievance against the Conservatives. The papers said he was angry over the party's refusal to recognise a group he had founded, the Conservative Arab Network.
Moustafa says he let Naweed Khan, a Conservative member of staff who later became Warsi's special adviser, stay at his London house for free for a period. Warsi says she stayed at the house, as a guest of Khan, about 12 times in early 2008.
Warsi says Khan was paying rent to Moustafa and that she had made "appropriate payments" to Khan which she had then legitimately claimed back on expenses. Khan backs her up. But Moustafa said he received no money from either Khan or Warsi.
Separately, Warsi has said she failed to declare rental income on an apartment she owns in the Register of Lords' Interests, as the rules required. Warsi said she took full responsibility for the "oversight" and had now put things right.
Whether or not Warsi is eventually vindicated, she is likely to be lastingly damaged by the bad publicity.
Warsi has ruffled many feathers during her career, repeatedly causing controversy with comments on religious and racial topics.
(Editing by Andrew Heavens)
- Tweet this
- Share this
- Digg this