Khan escapes formal probe over rule-breaking
By politics.co.uk staff
Sadiq Khan has avoided a formal ruling by the standards commissioner after using taxpayers’ money to write to constituents during the election campaign.
The Tooting MP was found by parliament’s standards commissioner John Lyon to have broken the rules governing the use of Commons resources during elections.
Mr Khan sent a mailshot to constituents costing £173, using Commons notepaper and envelopes, to inform them he would be unavailable for casework during the campaign.
My Lyon judged that Mr Khan’s actions could be perceived as party political, encouraging his constituents to return him to public office.
The investigation followed a complaint by Tory MP Greg Hands.
It has emerged that the commissioner was satisfied with Mr Khan’s response in paying back the money and agreeing to apologise, that he will not press the matter further.
According to the report in the Telegraph newspaper Mr Lyon wrote to Mr Hands saying: “Given his understandable wish to inform his constituents about the handling of constituency cases during the election period, and that he did not intend to breach the rules of the House in sending out his letter, and given the scale and costs involved, I consider that the matter can be resolved on the basis of Mr Khan’s response. I therefore regard the matter as closed.”
