Conway forced to pay back cash
Monday, 28 July 2008 1:43 PM
The Tory MP who paid his son public money for office work he never did is being ordered to pay the money back to the taxpayer.
Derek Conway was condemned by the parliamentary standards commissioner for his actions, suspended from the Commons and stripped of the Tory party whip but this is the first time he has learnt what is to happen to the money itself.
He has been ordered to pay back £13,160 of the £50,000 wages he paid to his son Freddie - now a regular in London's celebrity party circuit - in 12 installments of £1,096.
The terms of the repayment are already causing political uproar, with the Taxpayers' Alliance insisting on a lump sum payment with interest.
"Why on earth is this man being given so long to pay back the money he wrongly took from taxpayers?" said Mark Wallace, the group's campaign director.
"If all this time his family has had the benefit of this money, there should be interest that, if gathered up, can be given back to us all.
"It is crazy that he is still being paid by the taxpayer."
Mr Conway is also facing the prospect of a second inquiry over payments of £32,000 made to elder son Henry.
The outrage over Mr Conway's behaviour resulted in a myriad of different revelation about MPs financial arrangements, particularly Conservative MPs.
Sir Nicholas and Lady Ann Winterton were recently discovered funneling poublic money into a family home they already owned, for instance.
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