Across the pond

This is one of the saddest blogs I have written. David Laws is undoubtedly one of the most intelligent and able members of the new coalition cabinet. As the number two to George Osborne, the Chancellor of the Exchequer he was nobly shouldering the principal responsibility for introducing the unpopular cuts in public expenditure which are necessary to deal with the financial crisis. But following the revelations about his expense claims in today’s Daily Telegraph and his own subsequent admissions,  his position is clearly untenable, and I expect his resignation letter to be on David Cameron’s desk before the weekend is out. And I would expect David Cameron to accept it.

Although it provides a major headache for the new coalition, of which Laws was one of the principal archiitects as the LibDem leader of the negotiating team. David Cameron and Nick Clegg this weekend will have  to find some other very capable person, with the right economic experience and political skills to take this hottest of hot seats in the cabinet. And that person should ideally be a Lib Dem to preserve the agreed balance of the coalition between the two parties. Who will have to learn the ropes quickly enough to take part in the budget preparation.

And for Laws himself it is a terrible personal tragedy. His political career has bit the dust, just at the time it was taking off.

So what did he do wrong?

The essential facts are agreed between the Daily Telegraph and Laws.

Between 2004 and 2009 Laws paid rent of £40,000 to James Lundie. Initially the payment was for a room in a flat in Kennington, which Lundie sold for a capital profit of £193,000 in 2007. Then he bought a house and Laws rented the second bedroom for £950 a month and paid almost as much as a contribution to utilities, services, etc. Which adds up to over £20,000 a year. Quite a lot for a room, even in Kennington.

Since 2006 parliamentary rules have banned MP’s from claiming for rent paid to partners or family members. And, as he nows admits, Lundie has been his partner since 2001. As Laws points out himself, he could have claimed the £40,000 he has now agreed to pay back, quite legitemately, if he had declared that Lunde was his partner.

He did not want to do this, because he wished to protect the privacy of himself and his partner. Apparently he had told any of his family or his friends of his gay orientation, despite the fact that they have been living together in Kennington and at Laws’ house in Yeovil, throughout.

So what did he do wrong?  He was not seeking to maximise his financial gains. He was not making extravagont claims for moats around his castle.

But he was breaking the 2006 rules by concealing the fact that Lundie was his partner. Ironically for a man called Laws, he was making his own laws. Which is a form of hubris.

He says today that it is an relief to finally declare his sexuality. And hopefully his family and friends will think none the worse for him on that score. He may find that most of them  guessed as much years ago.

But in career terms he is paying a very heavy price for one mistake. But that mistake is at the heart of our present democratic concerns. MP’s and particularly ministers, who make our laws, must not be caught out breaking them. If he stays how can Cameron and Clegg still go on claiming to be the clean up government they want to be.

(Photo from The Guardian)