A Fife politician who urged the Met Police to investigate the expenses of shamed Maria Miller has branded the police’s decision not to probe the case “bizarre”.
The Conservative MP quit as culture secretary on Wednesday following sustained pressure over the disclosure that she had wrongly claimed thousands of pounds in mortgage interest payments and her32-second apology to the House of Commons.
As tensions bubbled, Dunfermline and West Fife representative Thomas Docherty wrote to Scotland Yard, asking them to look into the situation. Officers had decided in December 2012 that the threshold for a criminal investigation had not been met.
Yesterday a spokesman for the Met said: “We note the House of Commons Committee on Standards report and can confirm that we have received correspondence from a number of people on this subject, including an MP.
“However, the report does not contain evidence to change our original view.”
Labour member Mr Docherty slammed the decision and highlighted other cases whereby politicians have been severely punished for using their expenses inappropriately, such as his formercolleague Jim Devine.
He told The Courier: “It is bizarre given that they have rightly prosecuted a number of other MPs. I can only hope their decision was not based on her belated resignation.”
The Prime Minister yesterday acknowledged the party had experienced a “difficult week” and admitted he under-estimated the depth of the “raw” public anger over MPs’ expenses.
The resignation meant Mr Cameron avoided a potentially hostile meeting with backbench MPs concerned about the impact the situation was having on voters.
He moved swiftly to replace Mrs Miller after her resignation, promoting Treasury Minister Sajid Javid to Culture, Media and Sport.
Mrs Miller insisted she took “full responsibility” for the decision, saying she had become a “distraction” from the work of the Government.