Betsygate bill reaches £300,000

Friends look set to pick up the legal tab for the inquiry

Former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith's fight to clear his name and his wife's reputation in a parliamentary inquiry cost about £300,000 in legal fees.

Mr Duncan Smith was cleared in March of impropriety by the Commons standards and privileges committee.

It had been claimed Betsy Duncan Smith had not done enough to justify her pay as her husband's diary secretary.

On Friday, the MP's office said unnamed friends, not the Tory party, would pick up the legal bill.

'No compensation'

In a statement, his office said: "Because of continuing press speculation, Iain Duncan Smith would like to confirm that the legal costs incurred from rebutting false and malicious allegations made against him and his wife, Betsy, will be approximately £300,000.

"These bills reflect the extensive nature of the parliamentary inquiry, which lasted for six months - almost as long as the Hutton Inquiry."

Iain Duncan Smith does not expect these costs to be met from Conservative funds Statement from ex-leader's office

It said there was no mechanism for Mr Duncan Smith to redeem his costs, despite being exonerated, unlike a defendant in a court case.

The statement continued: "Iain Duncan Smith does not, however, expect these costs to be met from Conservative funds.

"Instead they will be met in whole, or in part, by friends."

"In settling these bills Mr Duncan Smith will obviously ensure full compliance with his registration obligations as a Member of Parliament."

Although the parliamentary standards commissioner dismissed the main complaint, about Mrs Duncan Smith's employment, he said two officials had been paid out of the wrong funds for party work.

MPs on the standards committee said the arrangements were not ideal but concluded he had not broken MPs' rules.