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Culture Secretary Maria Miller resigns
By Andy Malt | Published on Wednesday 9 April 2014
Culture Secretary Maria Miller has resigned this morning, following a high profile row over expenses claims on a second home.
A parliamentary inquiry found that Miller had over claimed on the second home. The Parliamentary Commissioner Kathryn Hudson cleared the MP of allegations she had made false claims, but ruled that she had wrongly designated the property in South West London as her second home and that she had claimed for more than she was allowed, going on to recommend that she repay £45,000. The Standards Committee of MPs then cut this proposed repayment to £5800.
Miller was also accused of taking an aggressive approach to the initial investigation, being slow to provide information to the Commissioner and making veiled threats towards her. And then, when Miller was deemed to have over claimed on her expenses, she made an apology in parliament largely seen as not being particularly apologetic.
Unlike some caught out by their expenses claims in the past, Miller gained the support of David Cameron, as well as several other high profile Conservative MPs. Though some saw this as a cynical move by her supporters, either to protect themselves against scrutiny of their own expenses claims, or over worries about how losing one of the few women in the cabinet would look.
But the media campaign against Miller was relentless, with newspapers calling for her resignation on a daily basis since the scandal began last week. Many would argue that this was simply a campaign against double standards in parliament, though others, including Miller herself, have claimed that she was the victim of a “witch hunt” due to her involvement in overhauling press regulation, following the Leveson Inquiry. It was probably, actually, somewhere in the middle.
In her resignation letter to the Prime Minister, Miller said that the controversy “has become a distraction from the vital work this government is doing”.
She wrote: “I am immensely proud of what my team have been able to achieve during my time in government: ensuring that our arts and cultural institutions receive the rightful recognition that they deserve in making Britain great; putting women front and centre of every aspect of DMCS’s work; putting in place the legislation to enable all couples to have the opportunity to marry regardless of their sexuality”.
However, she continued: “Of course, implementing the recommendations made by Lord Justice Leveson on the future of media regulation, following the phone hacking scandals, would always be controversial for the press. Working together with you, I believe we struck the right balance between protecting the freedom of the press and ensuring fairness, particularly for victims of press intrusion to have a clear right of redress”.
In response, David Cameron told Miller that she could be “extremely proud” of her work in government, concluding: “I am personally very grateful for the support you have always given me, and which I am sure that you will continue to give. I hope that you will be able to return to serving the government on the front bench in due course, and am only sad that you are leaving the government in these circumstances”.
Miller was appointed as Culture Secretary in September 2012, after Jeremy Hunt was promoted up to the job of Health Secretary, shortly after his close ties with Rupert Murdoch’s empire at a time when he was supposed to be independently considering News Corp’s bid to take complete control of BSkyB caused the government considerable embarrassment.
After some brief speculation regarding a possible successor for Miller this morning, Cameron has just confirmed that Sajid Javid, most recently Financial Secretary to the Treasury, will replace her at the DMCS.
