Sleaze row peer claims £400,000 just in expenses
ONE of the peers at the centre of corruption allegations has claimed nearly £400,000 of taxpayers' money in expenses, the Standard can reveal today.
Lord Taylor of Blackburn ran up the bill over seven years. The former council leader has by far one of the best attendance records at the House of Lords - turning up on average 148 days a year.
However, his extensive list of work as an adviser to companies and his directorships have raised questions over whether he is using the Lords to pursue his business interests.
The Sunday Times yesterday released a recording of a meeting between the peer and an undercover reporter in which he boasted that he could earn up to £100,000 a year from his work for companies.
He is one of four Labour peers being investigated over cash-for-influence claims.
Lord Taylor, 79, claimed the expenses between April 2001 and March 2008. He billed the taxpayer for nearly £168,000 for overnight subsistence payments. Peers could claim up to £165.50 a time for this allowance in the last financial year. He also claimed nearly £72,000 for day subsistence which was paid in 2007-08 at up to £82.50 a day to cover meals and "incidental" travel.
Separately, his travel bill totalled £70,500, including £9,722 in 2006-07 for flights, while his office costs amounted to just over £78,000. The total comes to £388,500 for the seven year period.
Conservative party chairman Eric Pickles said: "This is a serious matter and we need a full investigation into the use of taxpayers' money. If Labour peers are shown to have broken the rules, then Gordon Brown must remove the whip and expel them from the Labour Party.
"We also need to look at the sanctions faced by those peers found to have broken the rules."
Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: "This is a very large amount of money to claim on expenses, and taxpayers deserve to be told what it has been spent on.
"This latest scandal raises serious questions about what peers are using their privileges and power for. The whole system needs to be made public and fully transparent to ensure that taxpayers' generosity is not being abused for personal gain."
Lord Taylor declares non-parliamentary consultancy work including as an adviser to Experian Ltd, NPL Estates, Alcatel-Lucent, Canatxx Energy Ventures Ltd, BT plc, Gersphere UK Ltd and T-Systems Ltd, as well as being president of the Wrens Hotel Group, according to the Register of Lords' Interests.
His remunerated directorships include non-executive roles for A Division Holdings Ltd, Eisis Ltd, Building Themes International and Pine Mountain Resorts.
Lord Taylor could not be contacted for comment today.
Lord Taylor, who married in 1950, has one son, and was made leader of Blackburn town council in the early 1970s.
He worked in the social administration department at Manchester University and was made a peer in 1978 during James Callaghan's premiership.
He is now a Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Lancashire, a Freeman of the City of London and of the Borough of Blackburn.
He lists his interests as education, railways, energy, local government, Croatia, and his recreations as gardening, radio, books and music.
