The Home Secretary was put under increasing pressure yesterday when an investigation began into claims that she is misusing her parliamentary housing allowance.
Jacqui Smith has been criticised for designating her sister's house in London as her “main home”, allowing her to claim more than £20,000 a year for her “second home”. She has claimed at least £116,000 in second-home allowances for her constituency home in Redditch, Worcestershire, where her family live.
John Lyon, the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, said yesterday that he had accepted a complaint involving information from Ms Smith's London neighbours, who contacted David Cameron's office. Last week Mr Lyon turned down two earlier requests.
The decision to look into Ms Smith's housing arrangements follow allegations by a couple who live in the same street, Dominic Taplin, a businessman who used to be co-owner of the London nightclubs Abigail's Party and Legends, and his wife Jessica, a manager for a charity. They live four doors from Ms Smith and say that she is often there for as few as two nights a week and spends little time there during the long parliamentary recesses.
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