Dewsbury MP Shahid Malik back in Government

Jun 10 2009 Huddersfield Daily Examiner

DEWSBURY MP Shahid Malik is back in the Government – after being cleared by a sleaze watchdog.

The Labour MP returned to the frontbenchers in Gordon Brown’s reshuffle after a watchdog inquiry cleared him of breaching the ministerial code over a housing arrangement.

Mr Malik stepped down as justice minister last month while the Prime Minister’s independent adviser on the code, Sir Philip Mawer, examined his financial arrangements.

But the Dewsbury MP announced that Gordon Brown had restored him to the frontbench, in a new role as a junior minister at the Department of Communities and Local Government.

Mr Malik said Sir Philip had found no breach of the ministerial code over a reported sub £100-a-week rent deal on a property in the MP’s constituency.

The inquiry findings have been passed to Downing Street but will not be published.

Mr Malik said: “Naturally, I am very pleased and relieved that the inquiry into allegations that I had breached the ministerial code has cleared me of any wrongdoing.

“Although I, along with my friends and family, never doubted the outcome, it has undoubtedly been an incredibly stressful period.

“Sir Philip’s clean bill of health will go some way to mending some of the damage to my reputation and healing some of the hurt caused to family and friends.

“I always welcomed Sir Philip’s inquiry as an opportunity to clear my name and I am delighted that this has now been achieved.”

Mr Brown ordered Sir Philip’s inquiry after the Daily Telegraph reported that Mr Malik claimed tens of thousands of pounds on his second home in London while renting his constituency home for less than £100 a week.

The Telegraph said Mr Malik’s landlord, local businessman Tahir Zaman, confirmed he was paying well below the market rent for his address in Dewsbury – a claim the landlord later denied.

The newspaper reported that Mr Malik’s claims for his second home in Peckham, south London, amounted to £66,827 over three years – the highest figure for any MP.