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Expenses row made it too hard to do job, admits Jacqui Smith
Nicholas Cecil, Chief Political Correspondent09.06.09
Jacqui Smith admitted the storm over her expenses made it more difficult for her to work as Home Secretary, it was claimed today.
In a farewell note to staff, she is reported to have said the intrusion into her family life meant it was "harder to do... a ministerial job justice".
Ms Smith stood down last week after being engulfed in the Commons expenses scandal.
She was left facing the axe as a Cabinet minister after it emerged her husband used taxpayers' money to pay for two adult movies.
She is also facing a parliamentary inquiry into her decision to declare a London house she shares with her sister as her main residence.
The MP for Redditch has claimed £140,000, including an estimated £84,000 on the house in Worcestershire which she and her family moved into five years ago.
Sir David Normington, permanent secretary at the Home Office, is said to have attached a note to Ms Smith's message saying she had "more than her fair share of flak".
Reader views (1)
Is Jacqui Smith's husband still drawing a salary for his role as "house-husband"? As she is no longer home secretary there is no longer a need for her to employ him at tax payers' expense. His contract must therefore be terminated with immediate effect.
- R.F., Yorks, UK
