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| Version 0 | Version 1 |
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| Tory MP Conway faces suspension | Tory MP Conway faces suspension |
| (31 minutes later) | |
| A complaint that Tory MP Derek Conway wrongly paid his son MP allowances has been upheld by MPs on the Commons Standards and Privileges committee. | A complaint that Tory MP Derek Conway wrongly paid his son MP allowances has been upheld by MPs on the Commons Standards and Privileges committee. |
| Mr Conway paid his son Freddie to work part-time for him as a researcher while he was studying at university. | |
| The committee recommends that the MP is suspended for 10 Commons sitting days. | The committee recommends that the MP is suspended for 10 Commons sitting days. |
| Mr Conway told the committee that his son worked an average of 17 hours a week for him and that he did not infringe the staffing allowance rules. | Mr Conway told the committee that his son worked an average of 17 hours a week for him and that he did not infringe the staffing allowance rules. |
| MPs are given allowances to run their office and pay their staff and there are no rules to stop wives, husbands, sons, daughters and other family members working for them. | |
| 'No records' | |
| But in its critical report, the committee ordered Mr Conway to repay "the overpaid bonus sums" and pension contributions received by his son. | |
| And it recommended Mr Conway, MP for Old Bexley & Sidcup since 2001, make a personal apology to the Commons. | |
| We are astonished that there appears to be no evidence, independent or otherwise, of any aspect of Freddie Conway's work for his father Standards and Privileges Committee | |
| In their report, the committee's MPs found that Freddie Conway was paid at a full-time equivalent rate of £25,970 per year throughout his employment. | |
| However, "no records appear to exist of either actual work that FC did for his father, or of the work he was required to undertake", the MPs said. | |
| "We are astonished that there appears to be no evidence, independent or otherwise, of any aspect of FC's work for his father." | |
| The committee said Freddie Conway, who they refer to as FC, seemed to "have been all but invisible during the period of his employment". | |
| For the majority of that time he was based at Newcastle University where he was engaged in a full time degree course. | |
| 'Improper use' of allowances | |
| "He had little or no contact with his father's office, either in the House or in the constituency," the MPs said. | |
| "No record of the work he is supposed to have carried out, or the hours kept. The only evidence available to us of work carried out was that provided by FC and his family." | |
| The MPs said this arrangement was "at the least an improper use of parliamentary allowances" and "at worst, a serious diversion of public funds". | |
| "Our view is that the reality may well be somewhere between the two," they said. | |
| "Taking together our assessments of the salary level paid to FC and the number of hours for which he was remunerated, we are of the view that Mr Conway misused the staffing allowance. | |
| "He should have exercised his judgement more carefully, particularly as a family member was involved, as he could be seen as having a clear personal motivation for paying his son over-generously. | |
| "He also seemed to be oblivious to the broader reputational risks to the House of any perception of personal benefit to his family." |