Labour Party chiefs are facing a backlash over the treatment of MPs accused of abusing the parliamentary expenses system, following the resignation of Norwich North MP Ian Gibson.
Mr Gibson resigned with immediate effect last Friday following a decision of the “star chamber” investigating MPs’ claims that he should be barred from standing as a Labour candidate at the next general election.
Some members of the party’s National Executive Committee claim that the panel is being unfairly selective in who it is choosing to interview and that former ministers such as Jacqui Smith and Hazel Blears are being treated with impunity.
Amid a furious reaction among members in Norwich, local party president Martin Booth, who had accompanied Mr Gibson to the panel hearing but was not allowed to speak on his behalf, resigned in protest.
Mr Gibson, who held the seat at the 2005 election with 5,459 votes, was called to explain himself to the panel after it was revealed that he had sold an expenses-funded house to his daughter at a price significantly below the market value and, at £162,000, £30,000 less than he had paid for it himself.
Three other MPs, Margaret Moran, David Chaytor and Elliot Morley, pre-empted the panel by announcing they would stand down at the next election and did not appear in person.
Mr Gibson maintains that he did not break any rules and neighbouring MP Charles Clarke came to his defence this week saying that Mr Gibson had been “badly treated by the Labour Party”.
Sue Whitaker, the former leader of Norwich council and one of 19 local Labour councillors wiped out in last week’s routs, said: “People here are disgusted at the way Ian has been treated. He was encouraged to claim in the way that he did by the fees office and then he did what parents do and gave his daughter a helping hand.”
Local Labour members and some NEC members believe Mr Gibson has been punished for being a serial rebel in House of Commons votes. By standing down immediately, he loses any redundancy pay that he would have been entitled to at the next election.
Beyond Mr Gibson’s case, party general secretary Ray Collins and members of the star chamber are to face questions from NEC members about who else is due to be interviewed and why, so far, no ministers are known to be on the list.
Unison activists called for Labour MPs who have abused their expenses to be expelled from the union’s parliamentary group, at a national executive council meeting last week. Former Communities Secretary Hazel Blears and new Health Secretary Andy Burnham are among the Unison MPs who made controversial claims. A union spokesperson said that Unison’s Labour link committee would look at the issue. Members – many of whom are unpaid Labour activists – were “very angry” at the scandal, they added. General secretary Dave Prentis is expected to criticise MPs over expenses at the union’s conference next week.
