Reid cleared 'under cloud'

Dr Reid faced an inquiry by the standards committee

A complaint that Scottish Secretary Dr John Reid and a senior Labour colleague broke parliamentary rules has not been upheld.

Dr Reid and Glasgow Cathcart MP John Maxton were accused of using their parliamentary allowances to fund Labour Party campaigning.

After an 11-month investigation, the Commons Standards and Privileges Committee rejected a recommendation by Commissioner for Standards, Elizabeth Kilkin, that the complaint be upheld.

I said from the beginning that I had not broken the rules of the House of Commons

Scottish Secretary, Dr John Reid

But the committee has rebuked Dr Reid for being "unwise and incautious" in approaching witnesses to the investigation.

The inquiry was sparked by an Observer newspaper story, which alleged the MPs used their allowances, and therefore public money, to fund Labour's Scottish election campaign.

The newspaper said that at least three full-time election campaigners were paid as part-time researchers by Dr Reid and Mr Maxton.

Senior Labour sources were reported to have said that the "donations in kind" were one of a number of payments concealed to keep Labour's election spending in last summer's election within the permitted £1.5m limit.

Mr Reid, the MP for Hamilton North and Bellshill, and Glasgow MP, Mr Maxton, always denied the allegations.

Insufficient proof

After a lengthy investigation, the commissioner said she believed Commons rules had been breached "on the balance of probabilities".

But the committee disagreed, asserting that much of the evidence was circumstantial and that a higher standard of proof was needed

"A case such as this has serious implications for holders of public office," the committee said in its report.

Elizabeth Filkin wanted to uphold the complaint

"Accordingly we have concluded that we should need to be persuaded that these allegations were significantly more likely to be true than not to be true before we could properly uphold them."

But the committee also issued a rebuke to Dr Reid over his dealings with witnesses.

It described the Scottish secretary as being "unwise and incautious" in approaching witnesses to the investigation.

The former general secretary of the party Alex Rowley complained he had been "threatened" by Dr Reid about the evidence he might give, and secretly tape-recorded a conversation the two men had.

The committee also rejected attacks by Mr Reid's QC, John Goudie, who had accused Mrs Filkin of trying to "smear" the Scottish secretary and of having "mishandled" her investigation.

Names cleared

"We reject this unwarranted attack on the integrity of the commissioner," the committee said.

Welcoming the committee's ruling, Dr Reid said: "For 11 months I have been the subject of a parliamentary inquiry.

"I said from the beginning that I had not broken the rules of the House of Commons.

"Throughout I co-operated fully with the standards committee and the parliamentary standards commissioner and abided by the rules of Parliament.

"I am also delighted that others who were dragged into this matter have had their names cleared."

The Scottish secretary said he had endured a difficult 11 months and had been the subject of much "ill informed speculation".