WEDS AM: More questions over Dewsbury MP Malik's expenses

Jun 10 2009 By Andrew Jackson

FRESH questions were being asked today about the parliamentary expenses of government minister Shahid Malik after it was reported he claimed at least £6,500 for a second office alongside his taxpayer-funded constituency office.

The Dewsbury MP returned to government yesterday as junior communities minister after a watchdog inquiry cleared him of breaching the ministerial code over his housing arrangements.

But there were calls for Prime Minister Gordon Brown to publish the report of his independent adviser on the code, Sir Philip Mawer.

Mr Malik stepped down as justice minister last month while Sir Philip examined claims that he rented his three-bedroom constituency home at below-market rates of less than £100 a week, creating a potential conflict of interest.

It was announced yesterday that Sir Philip had found no breach of the code, as the rent said to have been charged was "reasonable in the light of market and other commercial considerations".

But Downing Street said the report would not be published "because it went into too much detail about Mr Malik’s personal matters and therefore was not appropriate for the public domain".

Norman Baker, a Liberal Democrat MP and freedom of information campaigner, told the Telegraph: "Gordon Brown has fallen at the first fence on the transparency course. If Mr Malik has been cleared as we are told, why not publish the report?"