MP apologises amid payments scandal

Former whip Derek Conway accepted he made "misjudgments" after the Standards and Privileges Committee urged he be made to repay up to £13,161 of his son Frederick's salary.

Frederick was paid more than £40,000 during his three-year employment, despite being "all but invisible" throughout because he was studying at Newcastle University.

The committee recommended Mr Conway's suspension from the Commons for 10 days, as well as his repayment of at least £9,962.97 of Frederick's salary and bonuses. This should rise by another £3,198.08 of tax and National Insurance if they could be recovered, it added.

Mr Conway appeared before the Commons to apologise "unreservedly" and accept the committee's criticisms, adding that he had let his family down "very badly indeed". The MP employed his son as a part-time research assistant between September 2004 and August 2007.

As well as receiving a salary of £11,773 a year, he was paid four one-off bonuses totalling just over £10,000.

But the committee said the salary was "excessive", given Frederick's experience and tasks, while the bonuses went "way beyond the permitted ceiling" set out by the Commons authorities.

It went on: "We note that (Frederick) seems to have been all but invisible during the period of his employment. For the majority of that time he was based at Newcastle where he was engaged in a full-time degree course at the university. He had little or no contact with his father's office, either in the House or the constituency.

"No record exists of the work that he is supposed to have carried out, or the hours kept. The only evidence available to us of work carried out was that provided by FC (Frederick) and his family."

It concluded that Mr Conway "misused" the staffing allowance available to MPs to employ researchers and office assistants.