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I had affair, admits Tory after quitting anti-sleaze committee
Nicholas Cecil, Deputy Political Editor20 Nov 2009
Tory MP David Curry today admitted having an affair only hours after quitting as chairman of Parliament's anti-sleaze committee.
Mr Curry, 65, insisted he and his wife Anne had “got over” his infidelity and denied she had banned him from his taxpayer-funded second home.
He allegedly used the cottage in Yorkshire for trysts with his lover.
He also insisted his expenses were “very modest and absolutely straight” and said he did not expect to end up in “the Tower of London”.
Mr Curry stood down temporarily as chairman of the Standards and Privileges committee and referred himself to the parliamentary sleazebuster in a bid to clear his name after the Daily Telegraph made a series of allegations against him.
Speaking at his farmhouse near Saffron Walden, Essex, he said: “I had an affair, there's no point in denying it. My wife hasn't banned me from doing anything.
“We pulled together our marriage, when you're trying to do that you want to see as much as you can of each other. We've got over it and now I would like everyone to leave my wife alone — she is the innocent party in all of this.”
His wife of 38 years, a French sculptor, had earlier answered the door of their home. Smartly dressed in a pale blue jumper and trousers, she shrugged her shoulders and said: “It's his problem, I have nothing to say.”
The Telegraph claimed that Mr Curry now hardly ever stays at the Yorkshire cottage after his wife discovered his affair about four years ago, reportedly with headmistress Cherry Edwards.
He has claimed £28,000 in the housing allowance from 2005/06 to 2007/08 and the Telegraph alleged he stayed at a £40-a-night Travelodge in Skipton rather than the cottage when visiting his constituency.
But Skipton and Ripon MP Mr Curry insisted he did use the property as he prepared to return to his constituency today.
He said: “I do stay there from time to time. I use the house constantly.”
Nicholas Soames may come under pressure to stand in as chairman of the standards committee.
Mr Curry has already announced he is stepping down from Parliament at the next general election.
Reader views (5)
The return of Tory sleaze. Or perhaps it never went away. Cameron offers a thin veneer of respectability, but who would trust Osborne? They will return us to the dark ages with 6th form politics. Any one who doubts that should look at what Boris has done for London - tube strikes, personal disputes and rising crime. Meanwhile he's having a good lunch at our expense.
- Steve S, London, 20/11/2009 15:30
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If guilty he should go straight to jail -
By the way why are the authorities only looking at the last 5 years of MP's expenses - are they saying the previous 5 were all correct and above board????
- Very Angry At Mp'S Expenses, Home Counties, 20/11/2009 13:06
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He has stepped down temporarily. I don't think so. It will take at least 5 months for him to be investigated. The temporarily bit is supposed to make us believe he hasn't done anything wrong and will be cleared. Read the full story in the Telegraph and you will see he's up to his armpits in ordure. He will have left the Commons before the results are known. His Tory friends on the Committee will push the investigation into the long grass so it doesn't cause any pre-election embarrassment to the Conservatives. We saw yesterday that Sir Christopher Kelly is colluding with David Cameron against the government when, after a nudge from a senior Tory MP, he made a complaint about the content, or lack of it, in the Queen's Speech, so I think it is pretty obvious whose side he is on.
- Val Daniels, Mijas Costa, Spain, 20/11/2009 12:26
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Sure he did it up whilst he could get the public purse to foot the bill. Very honourable, he must be a Tory.
- Gareth, London, 20/11/2009 10:27
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Very honourable he must be a Tory member
- Alexis Dogilewski, London England, 20/11/2009 08:44
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