Tory grandee Bill Cash pays back £15k to save career

In a desperate bid to save his 25-year career as an MP, Mr Cash announced at lunchtime that he intended to pay back the public funds as he was
engulfed in a "keep it in the family" expenses storm.

Earlier, he was spoken to by Conservative chief whip Patrick McLoughlin about his claims, which have sparked anger among many voters.

It is not clear if the move will save Mr Cash after Conservatives leader David Cameron warned he had some "very serious questions to answer" about his use of public funds to rent the Notting
Hill flat from his daughter Laetitia.

The Evening Standard can reveal that the veteran MP's wife, as well as one of his sons, have both also benefited from his Commons expenses.

The revelations are likely to dash the parliamentary hopes of Laetitia, 35, who is on the Tory "A-list" of would-be MPs.

Mr Cash admitted that while he was billing the taxpayer to rent out his daughter's flat, his son Sam was staying rent-free in his small flat in Pimlico, just 10 minutes from Westminster.

Mr Cash also employs his wife Bridget as a parliamentary/research assistant, a post with a salary range of £14,212 to £34,240.

The arch-Eurosceptic MP rented the flat from his daughter for the year to March 2005 before moving out shortly before she sold it for £386,000, reportedly making a profit of £48,000,
though he disputes this figure.

But the MP did not move straight back to his flat close to Parliament where his son was living. Instead, he stayed in London clubs, hotels and with friends, in what he describes as a "nomadic" three-month period.

He charged the taxpayer nearly £2,500 for use of the Garrick and Carlton clubs including overnight stays for his wife, according to The Daily Telegraph.

Mr Cash, though, insisted the club and hotel stays cost on average £612 per month and argued this was less than he would have had to claim for rent.

Asked whether he stayed at the clubs because Sam was still in his own flat, the Stone MP told The Standard: "He must have been."

Although his son did not benefit directly from taxpayer's cash, the Commons allowance system, which lets MPs "flip" which property they claim on, appears to have allowed Mr Cash to provide his son with rent-free accommodation.

The MP, who lives in a country mansion close to his Staffordshire constituency and has claimed nearly £140,000 of taxpayer's money for a second home over seven years, insisted that he had not broken any rules or cost the taxpayer extra money.

However, Mr Cameron made clear his anger at the revelations in words which have sounded the death knell for other MPs' careers.

On a visit to Cumbria, he said: "Bill Cash has got some very serious questions to answer. He needs to co-operate with those inquiries. Everyone knows the consequences of not participating."

Mr Cameron was being praised by some at Westminster for his leadership in the scandal. However, there are also concerns that his tough stance is turning it into too much of a Tory story.

A string of Tory MPs has been publicly humiliated in recent weeks over their claims and are now stepping down at the next election. There have been fewer casualties on the Labour side so far.