Still keeping it in the family

Although “reform” has become the watchword for ministers these days, recent revelations show that the Palace of Westminster is patently less wedded to the concept. The casual impression to be gained from putting one’s nose up against the misty windows of the Member’s Bar is that the proclaimed cleanup of parliamentary excesses has turned out to be little more than a quick wipe over with a damp cloth.

Take, for example, the promised crackdown on the abuse of MPs employing family members. When the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa) first came into being, it conducted a public consultation which recorded that 59 per cent of respondents wanted an end to instututionalised nepotism with just 22 per cent backing the practice.

Despite recommendations to the same effect from Sir Christopher Kelly, who conducted the wide-ranging review of the bad old system, Speaker John Bercow and all three party leaders, the new body nonetheless allowed a concession permitting the employment of wives and children who are described as "connected parties" under the new rules.

Although Ipsa’s chairman, Prof. Sir Ian Kennedy, admitted to have been ‘robustly lobbied’ by MPs, he added that his change of mind was based upon the “quality rather than the quantity" of consultation responses received. Of course, no-one has been vulgar enough to suggest that a £100K salary, plus a generous expenses package, subsequently voted through by MPs might also have been a factor.

This inexplicable u-turn means that, Ian Liddell-Grainger, member for Bridgewater and West Somerset and, as it happens 336th in line to the throne, is able to not only have has his wife working in his office but has also obtained Westminster passes for his two eldest children.

The regulations supposedly prohibit MPs from employing more than one relative, but Ipsa says it is not concerned about the arrangement as there is no record of the young Liddell-Graingers receiving any payment. They do not state if they have actually investigated.

Liddell-Grainger is one of nearly 30 MPs who have so far registered relatives as staff. Others include Hugo Swire, Margaret Beckett, Hilary Benn and Chris Grayling. Yet the full extent of the ‘approved’ practice is hidden by circumstances whereby family members who have different surnames or are not blood relatives may not have been declared.

Ipsa cost over £6 million to set up and has had to pay out a reported £1 million in interim subsistence claims since the election to tide MPs over for staff wages and office costs.

Earlier this week, details emerged of how honourable members had repeatedly swore at Ipsa staff as the expenses system was explained to them. One MP described it as a "fucking abortion", another described an Ipsa member of staff as a "monkey" and "nutty". Ipsa published accounts of nine incidents with MPs on its website in response to a freedom of information request. These were almost identical to earlier reports in the Sunday press which named a number of senior MPs, including the home secretary Theresa May and business secretary Vince Cable.

The expose comes in the same week that the Insitute of Fiscal Studies concluded that the ConDems emergency budget would penalise poorer families in the longer term.