Downing Street Says » Alistair Darling

Asked for the Prime Minister s position regarding Alistair Darling s expense claims, the Prime Minister s Spokesman (PMS) said that the Chancellor had said in his statement that the accusation that he had made claims for two houses at the same time was untrue. There was a specific issue about the pre-payment of a service charge that covered some of the period when the Chancellor was renting out his London property, and the Chancellor had decided that for the avoidance of doubt it was right to repay that money and the Prime Minister agreed with him. By repaying this money the Chancellor was making it absolutely clear that he did not make any financial gain from this transaction.

Put that the Prime Minister had said this morning that there were no foundations for the allegations against the Chancellor and then an hour later the Chancellor decided to pay some money back, the PMS said that the central allegation was that claims were being submitted at the same time for two separate properties. When Alistair Darling submitted the pre-payment claim he was living in his flat in London rather than in the flat above No 10, which he subsequently moved into. The Chancellor had been renting the flat in London for some of the period covered by the pre-payment and that was why, for the avoidance of doubt, the Chancellor had paid back the money relating to that period.

Asked if the decision to pay back the money had been made after the Prime Minister had appeared on the Today Programme, the PMS said that he was not going to get into the specifics of what decisions were made when. The Chancellor had decided that it was right to repay the money in order to remove any potential ambiguity.

Asked if the Chancellor had paid the full amount or the period after September when he had left the flat, the PMS said that the Chancellor s statement made clear that he would repay the service charge from September i.e. the period in which he was not living in the flat.

Asked if the Prime Minister agreed with Vince Cable that the Chancellor s expenses should be beyond reproach, the PMS said that the Chancellor had made clear that in relation to this specific issue he wanted to ensure that there was no ambiguity and that was why he repaid the money. Alistair Darling s office had rejected some of the other claims that had been made about him.

Asked if the Prime Minister was satisfied that there was no need for an investigation, the PMS said that every single MP would have to subject themselves to rigorous, independent scrutiny of all previous claims. Alistair Darling s office had rejected the specific accusations made today and made clear that he was determined to ensure that he was doing the right thing and therefore, for the avoidance of any ambiguity had decided to repay the money.

Put that the Prime Minister seemed to suggest in his Sky interview this morning that Alistair Darling might not be the Chancellor in ten days time, the PMS said that there seemed to be some issue this morning about the Prime Minister s use of the past tense, but he made the point on this mornings Today Programme that the Chancellor was a very good Chancellor.

Asked if the Prime Minister had full confidence in Alistair Darling, the PMS said yes.

Asked if the Prime Minister had spoken to the Chancellor before the decision was taken to repay the money, the PMS said that the Prime Minister spoke to the Chancellor on a daily basis about all sorts of things.

Asked if the Prime Minister saw any merit in prioritising the scrutiny of MPs expenses, the PMS said that Alistair Darling was prioritising his own case himself and had paid back the money. The Prime Minister felt that it was important for all MPs to subject themselves to an independent process and that would happen as soon as was practicable. These were ultimately matters for the House Authorities and the independent committee to take a view on as it processed individual claims.

Asked if the Prime Minister was satisfied that Alistair Darling had done nothing wrong, the PMS said that the Prime Minister was satisfied that Alistair Darling had repaid this money in order to ensure that there was no ambiguity about his position.

Asked how distracting these incidences were to the job of governing the country, the PMS said that the Prime Minister recognised that this created a huge amount of public anger and he wanted to see the expenses published as soon as possible so that everyone had an opportunity to make judgements rather than depend on the judgements taken by one individual newspaper. The Prime Minister also remained focussed on the big issues that faced the country, primarily the economic downturn.

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» Monday, June 1, 2009

Alistair Darling

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