Duncan Smith cleared over office funding allegations

A parliamentary watchdog report has cleared the former Conservative Party leader Ian Duncan Smith over allegations of impropriety in relation to the running of his private office.

The Select Committee on Standards and Privileges report follows an inquiry into a complaint regarding the payment of Betsy Duncan Smith for secretarial duties. It had been claimed that Mrs Duncan Smith, who had been employed by her husband as Diary Secretary, had not performed sufficient duties to merit this appointment.

However, Mr Duncan Smith denied any impropriety - his legal counsel had moved to have the inquiry dismissed on procedural grounds - and the report released today found that Mr Duncan Smith had made no improper claims regarding his wife's salary.

The former Tory leader said he was looking forward to getting on with his life following what he described as "malicious" allegations.

However, in the matter of two other staff, the report concluded that although two other members of Mr Duncan Smith's staff who had performed party duties had been paid from the wrong funds, though this was not necessarily a breach of the rules.

The report noted that it may have been more appropriate for part of the duties of Mrs Duncan Smith and two other staff to have been paid for from Short money - funds set aside to pay for the office of the Leader of the Opposition, rather than out of his parliamentary staffing allowance.

This report accepted that there were "shortcomings" in the current guidance on payment from Short money and staffing allowance. This has been raised with government as an area that needed "greater clarity and transparency".

The report concluded: "This inquiry has been a long and stressful one for a significant number of witnesses, not least Mrs Duncan Smith. We hope that the media in particular will reflect on the fact that involvement in public life does not mean that a person's right to reasonable privacy, and that of their family, is abrogated."

The report also expressed "grave doubts" over the "conduct" of the BBC investigative journalist Michael Crick, but said that these were "matters for the BBC".

Mr Crick had made inquiries for the BBC's Newsnight programme following the leaking of emails though the report was not subsequently broadcast.

The BBC said it was "legitimate" to inquire into the allegations and Mr Crick accused the committee of complacency.

(SP)