Ed Miliband campaign chief broke rules for MPs with 'party political' mailshot
Ed Miliband's campaign chief breached House of Commons rules by sending a Parliamentary letter to voters during the general election campaign, anti-sleaze watchdogs have found.
The Standard has learned that Sadiq Khan, the former transport minister and key ally of the new Labour leader, is expected to formally face the judgement of Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards John Lyon tomorrow.
Mr Khan was reported to the watchdog after it emerged that he had sent a mailshot using Commons notepaper and pre-paid envelopes to inform voters that he could no longer deal with constituency cases during the dissolution of Parliament.
The MP, who hung on to his marginal seat in Tooting despite a strong challenge from his Conservative opponent, sent a total of 500 letters.
Mr Khan has since voluntarily repaid the £173 cost of the mailshot and accepts that he broke rules forbidding the use of official Commons notepaper and postage for party political activity.
Mr Lyon said that although it was clear Mr Khan had tried to keep constituents informed, one effect of the letter was to appear to be canvassing "support for his return to public office".
"Having carefully considered all the evidence, I have concluded that the text of Mr Khan's letter had the effect, which I accept was not intended, of supporting his return to public office, contrary to the rules of the House," the watchdog ruled.
However, Mr Lyon said the MP had not knowingly breached the rules and had made an "appropriate response" to a complaint lodged over his conduct by Tory MP Greg Hands. Mr Lyon added that given the small scale of the case and the small costs, he now considered the matter closed.
Mr Khan today said: "I welcome [Mr Lyon's] conclusion that there is a wider issue here which my letters to constituents were an honest and apolitical attempt to address: it is not generally understood that following dissolution the in many cases urgent work MPs do has to be put on hold, no matter how this impacts the public we were elected to serve."
