Giles Chichester has resigned as leader of the UK Conservative MEPs in the European parliament, after admitting that he broke the assembly’s expenses rules.
Chichester, who has led the UK’s Tories since November 2007, admitted that he has been paying thousands of euros in MEP staff allowances to a firm, founded by his father, the round-the-world yachtsman Sir Francis, in which he is a paid director.
The arrangement with the company, which publishes navigational maps, had been formally registered with the parliament, however parliament rules, introduced five years ago, forbid MEPs from channelling staff expenses through companies that they are a member of.
When questioned about the arrangement earlier this week, Chichester, who had recently been tasked to come up with a new expenses code of conduct for Tory MEPs, said he had no knowledge that the rules had been changed.
In a TV interview in the UK, he said he was highly embarrassed by the fact that he had failed to spot that his own expenses arrangements were suspect, but insisted that there had “been no misappropriation of funds,” and tried to brush off the affair as a “technical” error.
“Here I am leading that process for the last couple of months and, whoops-a-daisy, I am shown to have made a mistake. Ok, hands up, mea culpa, and I will put it right.”
But UK Tory leader David Cameron intervened and demanded that the MEP justify the arrangement.
Unfortunately for Chichester, the row follows a well-publicised expenses scandal in the UK, where Tory MP Derek Conway was forced to resign after a similar expenses scandal.
Accusations of sleaze helped bring down the last Conservative government in the UK, and Cameron is thought to be anxious that the label does not return to haunt the party.
In a statement released on Thursday evening, Chichester apologised “for the fact that I have been in breach of the parliamentary rules”.
“I wish to allow myself the space to prepare my report to the parliamentary authorities and demonstrate that monies were properly spent and accounted for.”
Chichester will be temporarily replaced as Tory MEP leader by Philip Bushill-Matthews.
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