Conservative leader David Cameron has expelled from the parliamentary party an MP who gave his son almost 50,000 pounds in public money. Derek Conway, 54, had said his son had been acting as his researcher while at university and that the money had been paid in salary to him.
But the Commons standards committee found the son had done little or no work for him and the MP now faces a possible police investigation. Frederick Conway, 22, a Newcastle University geography student was paid almost 12,000 pounds a year, plus bonuses, for almost three years. Conservative leader David Cameron said on Tuesday: "I have decided to withdraw the Conservative Whip from Mr Conway." The decision means Conway will be isolated from the Tory group in parliament, but does not lose his seat.
Earlier on Tuesday, the Daily Mail reported that leaked documents also showed Conway's elder son, Henry, 25, had been paid more than 32,000 pounds in parliamentary allowances and bonuses between 2001 and 2004 when he too was an undergraduate. Labour MP John Mann, said on Tuesday while there was no suggestion of impropriety, he was going to ask for investigation to gauge whether Conway's actions were "above board".