McLeish's Latest Debt Trick At Taxpayer's Expense

24th July 2002
Not content with facing possible legal charges over the Officegate affair, disgraced former first minister Henry McLeish decided that the best way for him to pay back the debt was to take a £30,000 severance pay-off from his days as a Westminster MP, according to a newspaper report on Sunday 21st July 2002. All this despite the fact that McLeish had declared categorically that he would not accept the pay-off.

McLeish, who earns £82,000 p.a. from his Scottish Parliament salary and his £34,000 pension (which he was deemed entitled to after only 13 months as first minister), allegedly went back on his word and arranged for his thirty-thousand pound severance to be used in paying back the £38,500 which he had claimed from the Westminster fees office as expenses, while not declaring six sublets of his constituency office in Glenrothes.

There have been numerous calls for McLeish to stand down in the light of these latest allegations - which McLeish will not discuss publicly.

The latest damage to Mr McLeish's reputation makes it highly unlikely that he will seek re-election to the Scottish Parliament next year, although some have argued that his behaviour tends towards the kind of arrogance that would lead to him battling on regardless. Either way, Mr McLeish will continue to cultivate his links with the U.S. college lecturing circuit - though whether he will declare these all expenses paid trips in his register of interests is anyone's guess.