Downing Street Says » Kitty Ussher/Expenses

» Thursday, June 18, 2009

Kitty Ussher/Expenses

Asked if the Prime Minister would accept that Kitty Ussher was another Ministerial casualty of the expenses scandal, the PMS said that it was clear to the Prime Minister that as soon as he was made aware of the issues that were being raised by the Daily Telegraph, her position as a Treasury Minister was untenable. The Prime Minister had had a conversation with her and she decided to stand down. Any suggestion that the Prime Minister was not taking this issue seriously was preposterous.

Put that in her letter, Kitty Ussher had spoken of her personal situation, the PMS said that she had resigned and it was quite clear what the reasons were for her resignation. The Prime Minister had no difficulty with the fact that she had resigned and was of the view, as was Kitty Ussher last night after she had spoken to the Prime Minister, that her position as a Treasury Minister was untenable. Asked if the Prime Minister wanted her to go before the star chamber, the PMS said questions on Labour Party procedures were best addressed to the Labour Party.

Asked whether the Prime Minister felt it was embarrassing that so many of the expense details had been redacted and would he want to see any kind of leeway on those redaction rules, the PMS said that in general the Prime Minister had consistently said that he believed that there should be as much transparency as possible. There would be security considerations that needed to be taken into account, but issues relating to what individual MPs had agreed with the Fees Office were not really questions that he could get into.

Asked whether it was the fact that Kitty Ussher had been a Treasury Minister that made it necessary for her to stand down, the PMS said that it was not a trivial matter.

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