Jacqui Smith’s humiliation: Minister ‘could face axe’ after claiming taxpayers’ cash for husband’s pornographic films
By Ian Drury and Michael Lea
Last updated at 10:08 AM on 30th March 2009
Jacqui Smith faces the threat of a humiliating demotion after she was forced to apologise yesterday for using House of Commons expenses to pay for pornographic movies watched by her husband.
Insiders believe the embattled Home Secretary has a matter of only a few months to save her political career.
She was already fighting sleaze allegations, and MPs said the latest revelations raised ‘real questions’ about her future in the Cabinet.
Despite strong backing from Downing Street, speculation was growing that she could be sidelined as part of a reshuffle, possibly as early as June after the European elections.
Jacqui Smith leaves her sister’s south London home this morning after damning revelations she used House of Commons expenses to pay for blue movies
Miss Smith submitted the bill for blue movies watched at her family home in Redditch, Worcestershire, as part of a £67 television package claimed under MPs’ controversial secondhome allowance.
She signed it off and, incredibly, it was passed by the Commons authorities.
MPs are expected to call in police today to discover how the copy of her Virgin TV and internet account came to be published in a Sunday newspaper.
Some suspect that digital images of MPs’ invoices may have been stolen from the expenses office and are being sold to papers for money.
Jacqui Smith’s husband Richard Timney reads out an apology to his wife yesterday
Her 46-year-old husband Richard Timney, who also acts as her £40,000-a-year assistant, yesterday made a public apology over his viewing habits while his wife was away.
The TV receipt, leaked to journalists, is one of a million-plus bills which judges have ordered MPs to release for publication following a lengthy Freedom of Information campaign, but which remain secret.
As a desperate salvage operation was launched, Miss Smith was said to be ‘mortified’ by the revelations.
She promised to pay back the cash spent on the subscription-only channel. Those close to her suggested that her relations with Mr Timney were increasingly tense.
The expense claims included two £5 adult films watched on April 6 and 8 last year
The fact that he was watching porn is particularly embarrassing since she has taken a tough stance on the sex industry including a pledge to crack down on lap dancing clubs.
The Home Secretary is already embroiled in a sleaze inquiry after clawing in £116,000 of expenses by claiming a bedroom at her sister’s London address was her main home.
Critics said the latest scandal had left her credibility in ‘tatters’. But she insisted she had no intention of resigning as she was not at home when the explicit movies were viewed.
Downing Street gave forceful support to the Home Secretary, saying she was ‘doing a great job’ and had ‘done the right thing’ by taking steps to rectify an ‘inadvertent mistake’.
But the Prime Minister is certain to be furious that one of his senior ministers has become a figure of ridicule.
Happier times: Jacqui Smith with her husband in 1997
Miss Smith’s claim for the cost of two porn films came when she ‘mistakenly’ submitted an invoice for a TV package when billing for an internet connection.
An itemised receipt handed to the Commons authorities showed the films had been watched on channels offered by the Virgin Media cable TV service.
Subscribers can watch adult-only movies on the Playboy Channel, the Adult Channel and Television X. Films available include Sweaty Sex and Happy Husbands And Willing Wives.
The bill revealed the blue movies each cost £5 and were watched on April 1 and April 6 last year. It also include two pay-per-view screenings of the film Ocean’s 13, each costing £3.75, and another £3.50 to watch the movie Surf’s Up.
The £67 claim was submitted in June last year.
Although Mr Timney puts in her expenses claims as part of his job as her assistant, Miss Smith must personally sign a form each month declaring they were ‘wholly, exclusively and necessarily’ incurred for her duties as an MP.
It was paid under the discredited additional costs allowance (ACA), which allows MPs to claim £24,000 a year to run homes in their constituency and another close to
Parliament.
Television subscriptions are permissible and it once emerged that Gordon Brown claimed for his monthly Sky Sports fees.
Yesterday 46-year-old Miss Smith – whose majority of 2,716 in Redditch is the slenderest of any cabinet minister – said: ‘I am sorry that in claiming for my internet connection, I mistakenly claimed for a television package alongside it.
‘As soon as the matter was brought to my attention, I took immediate steps to contact the relevant parliamentary authorities and rectify the situation. All money claimed for the television package will be paid back in full.’
Outside their detached home, Mr Timney said: ‘I am really sorry for any embarrassment I have caused Jacqui. I can fully understand why people might be angry and offended by this.’
A friend of the couple said Mr Timney had been given an ‘ ear-bashing’ by his wife and added: ‘It is fair to say Richard will be sleeping on the sofa for a while.’
Miss Smith is being investigated by Parliament’s standards commissioner after claiming more than £116,000 of taxpayers’ money for a second home while lodging with her sister Sara in south-east London.
She classifies the ‘digs’ as her main residence, which leaves her clear to bank up to £24,000 a year in Commons expenses to run the Redditch house where she and her husband live with their two young sons.
Tory MP Mark Field said: ‘The entire Commons allowance system is now indefensible. It’s one thing to make dubious claims on the location of your second home but for the husband of a Home Secretary to be claiming for pornographic TV is completely beyond the pale.’
Fellow Conservative backbencher Philip Davies said: ‘Claiming that her sister’s back bedroom is her main home is one thing but this could push her over the cliff.
‘It is surely not legitimate to use Commons allowances to buy blue movies. I cannot see how she can survive.’
Documents handed to national newspapers show the extent to which Miss Smith, who is paid £141,866 a year, has kitted out her family home using her additional costs allowance.
She has claimed for virtually every household item over the past five years - including a £550 kitchen sink and even an 88p bath plug.
Last year Mr Timney, who quit his civil engineer’s job to bring up the couple’s two children when Miss Smith became MP for Redditch in 1997, was unmasked as the author of a series of letters attacking the Conservatives.
He sent a string of letters to the Redditch Advertiser backing his wife’s identity-card plans and criticising the Tories over security and transport.
The porn revelation is the latest expenses scandal to engulf Labour.
Jobs minister Tony McNulty’s political career is also in peril after standards commissioner Mr Lyon launched an inquiry over claims he abused his expenses.
Pingback: Persevere » Blog Archive » Jacqui Smith’s humiliation: Minister ‘could face axe’ after claiming taxpayers’ cash for husband’s pornographic films