Mr Harry Cohen Review by Sir Paul Kennedy
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
House of Commons Committee on Standards and Privileges Mr Harry Cohen Review by Sir Paul Kennedy Thirteenth Report of Session 2010–11 Report and Appendix, together with formal minutes Ordered by the House of Commons to be printed 15 March 2011 HC 883 Published on 17 March 2011 by authority of the House of Commons London: The Stationery Office Limited £0.00 The Committee on Standards and Privileges The Committee on Standards and Privileges is appointed by the House of Commons to oversee the work of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards; to examine the arrangements proposed by the Commissioner for the compilation, maintenance and accessibility of the Register of Members’ Interests and any other registers of interest established by the House; to review from time to time the form and content of those registers; to consider any specific complaints made in relation to the registering or declaring of interests referred to it by the Commissioner; to consider any matter relating to the conduct of Members, including specific complaints in relation to alleged breaches in the Code of Conduct which have been drawn to the Committee’s attention by the Commissioner; and to recommend any modifications to the Code of Conduct as may from time to time appear to be necessary. Current membership Rt hon Kevin Barron MP (Labour, Rother Valley) (Chair) Sir Paul Beresford MP (Conservative, Mole Valley) Tom Blenkinsop MP (Labour, Middlesbrough South & East Cleveland) Annette Brooke MP (Liberal Democrat, Mid Dorset and North Poole) Rt hon Tom Clarke MP (Labour, Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill) Mr Geoffrey Cox MP (Conservative, Torridge and West Devon) Matthew Hancock MP (Conservative, West Suffolk) Mr Oliver Heald MP (Conservative, North East Hertfordshire) Heather Wheeler MP (Conservative, South Derbyshire) Dr Alan Whitehead MP (Labour, Southampton Test) Powers The constitution and powers of the Committee are set out in Standing Order No. 149. In particular, the Committee has power to order the attendance of any Member of Parliament before the committee and to require that specific documents or records in the possession of a Member relating to its inquiries, or to the inquiries of the Commissioner, be laid before the Committee. The Committee has power to refuse to allow its public proceedings to be broadcast. The Law Officers, if they are Members of Parliament, may attend and take part in the Committee’s proceedings, but may not vote. Publications The Reports and evidence of the Committee are published by The Stationery Office by Order of the House. All publications of the Committee (including press notices) are on the Internet at: www.parliament.uk/sandp. Committee staff The current staff of the Committee are Mr Steve Priestley (Clerk), Miss Rhiannon Hollis (Second Clerk) and Ms Jane Cooper (Committee Assistant). Contacts All correspondence should be addressed to The Clerk of the Committee on Standards and Privileges, Journal Office, House of Commons, London SW1A 0AA. The telephone number for general enquiries is 020 7219 6615. Mr Harry Cohen — Review by Sir Paul Kennedy 1 Contents Report Page Mr Harry Cohen — Review by Sir Paul Kennedy 2 Appendix: Review by Sir Paul Kennedy 3 Appendices to the Review: 21 Appendix I 21 Extract from the Department of Resources EAT telephone log 21 Appendix II 22 Terms of reference for the review of the Seventh Report, 2009–10 22 Appendix III 23 (i) Submission by Mr Harry Cohen 23 (ii) Submission by the Department of Resources, House of Commons 34 (iii) Letter from the Secretary to the Trustees of the Parliamentary Contributory Pension Fund 42 (iv) Further Submission by Mr Harry Cohen 43 Formal Minutes 51 2 Mr Harry Cohen — Review by Sir Paul Kennedy Mr Harry Cohen — Review by Sir Paul Kennedy 1. We append a report from the Rt hon Sir Paul Kennedy of his review of the recommendations made in the Committee’s Seventh Report of Session 2009–10, on Mr Harry Cohen, the former Member for Leyton and Wanstead. The Committee is grateful to Sir Paul and to all those who assisted him. We now regard this matter as closed. Mr Harry Cohen — Review by Sir Paul Kennedy 3 Appendix: Review by Sir Paul Kennedy Review by the Rt Hon Sir Paul Kennedy of the conclusion of the Standards and Privileges Committee in its Seventh Report of Session 2009-10 on the case of Mr Harry Cohen, a former Member of the House of Commons March 2011 4 Mr Harry Cohen — Review by Sir Paul Kennedy TABLE OF CONTENTS THE REVIEW Page 1. Introduction 5 2. Subsequent Developments 8 3. Terms of Reference 8 4. The Issue and the Material 9 5. The History 9 6. The Telephone Note of 27 March 2009 13 7. Loss of Resettlement Grant and Pension 16 8. Factual Conclusions 18 9. Culpability and Sanction 19 APPENDICES I. Extract from Department of Resources Telephone Log 21 II. Terms of Reference 22 III. (i) Submission by Mr Harry Cohen 23 (ii) Submission by the Department of Resources, House of Commons 34 (iii) Letter from the Secretary to the Trustees of the Parliamentary Contributory Pension Fund 42 (iv) Further Submission by Mr Harry Cohen 43 Mr Harry Cohen — Review by Sir Paul Kennedy 5 Review by Sir Paul Kennedy 1. Introduction 1.(i) Mr Harry Cohen was a Member of Parliament from 1983 until May 2010. On 29 March 2009 the Mail on Sunday published an article in which it was alleged that Mr Cohen, as Member of Parliament for Leyton and Wanstead, had, over several years, claimed as expenses a second home allowance to which he was not entitled. On the same day a letter of complaint was written to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards (Mr John Lyon) drawing his attention to the newspaper article and inviting him to investigate. A copy of the letter was sent to the Metropolitan Police. Over the ensuing nine months the Parliamentary Commissioner conducted an investigation which is accepted to have been thorough. It included extensive correspondence and an interview with Mr Cohen, and fairly extensive correspondence with the House of Commons Department of Resources, which is the department responsible for dealing with claims for expenses made by Members of Parliament. On 13 January 2010 the Commissioner produced for the House of Commons Committee on Standards and Privileges a 45 page memorandum with 55 pages of exhibits containing most of the correspondence, and other documents to which the memorandum referred. The first 135 paragraphs of the memorandum set out the progress of the investigation and summarized the documentation. Then, at paragraphs 136 to168, the Commissioner sets out his conclusions. At paragraph 138 he asked himself three questions, namely: (1) Should Mr Cohen have registered his Colchester property in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests? (2) Did Mr Cohen have more than one home for the purposes of his claims against parliamentary allowances throughout the seven-year period? (3) If he had more than one home, did he correctly identify throughout the period which was his main home? 1.(ii) It is worth noting at the outset that question (3) only needed to be considered if question (2) was answered in the affirmative. The Colchester property has consistently been described by Mr Cohen as his main home, and he also, at all material times, owned a house in his constituency – initially in Leyton and later in Wanstead. 1.(iii) The Commissioner answered the first question at paragraph 143 thus: “Mr Cohen was in breach of the rules in relation to the registration of Members’ financial interests in not registering his Colchester house and the fact that he received substantial rental income from it in each year from 2004 to 2008 inclusive.” 1.(iv) That conclusion is not in issue. Mr Cohen accepts that he was in breach of the duty to register. I therefore turn to question (2) which the Commissioner answered at paragraph 154 : “Mr Cohen was in breach of the rules of the House in identifying for allowance purposes his house in Colchester as one of his two homes from April 2004 to August 6 Mr Harry Cohen — Review by Sir Paul Kennedy 2008 because his use of the property was constrained by regular and substantial periods when it was let to others.” 1.(v) That is a fundamental conclusion which was later adopted by the Committee, and approved by the House. It is based on facts which are not in dispute about the extent of the periods for which the Colchester house was not available for Mr Cohen’s use. It does not depend on Mr Cohen’s perceptions, or on any advice that he may have received. Such matters only arise for consideration in relation to sanction. 1.(vi) Despite the conclusion which he reached in relation to question (2) – and in case the Committee did not share that conclusion—the Commissioner did go on to consider question (3) and ended that consideration thus : “164. Mr Cohen has argued that he consulted the House authorities about his arrangements at various times in the last seven years. The Department of Resources accepts that he indeed regularly consulted them about expenses matters, but they have no record or recollection of discussions about whether it was within the rules for Mr Cohen to let out his main home, as he has suggested. It is not possible at this remove, and in the absence of documentary evidence, definitively to resolve this difference of recollection. I think it possible, on the balance of probabilities, that Mr Cohen may have made some mention to the House authorities about letting out his Colchester home. The fact that he registered the property in the Register of Members’ Interests in 2001 and again made a partial registration from 2005 to 2008 suggests that he was not attempting to disguise the arrangement.