[BITList] Son of Sir Frank Chichester....

[John Feltham]

Leader of Conservative MEPs resigns
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Giles Chichester has resigned as leader of David Cameron's  
Conservative Euro MPs after breaking European Parliament rules on  
political expenses.

He threw in the towel after facing an ultimatum from Mr Cameron to  
justify channelling more than ?400,000 in staff allowances to a family  
business of which he is a paid director.

Mr Chichester stayed on as a Tory MEP, but stepped down from the top  
job to limit embarrassment to Mr Cameron - who had asked him only  
three months ago to clean up Tory MEP allowances in the wake of a  
scandal at Westminster over MP Derek Conway.

In a statement, the Conservative Party said Mr Chichester stepped down  
after chairman Caroline Spelman asked him to provide a full  
explanation of the arrangements put in place to fund his staff.

Mr Chichester chose to step down with immediate effect to prepare his  
report to the European Parliament authorities, said the party.

Mr Cameron said: "Giles Chichester is right to stand down as leader of  
our MEPs to prepare a full explanation of how his office is funded.  
Just as I expect our MPs to adhere to the highest standards, so must  
our MEPs.

"The tax-paying public have a right to know how their money is being  
spent and politicians have a duty to ensure it is spent properly."

Deputy leader Philip Bushill-Matthews will take over as acting leader.

The think tank Open Europe called on Mr Chichester to resign as an MEP.

Open Europe director Neil O'Brien said: "If this is serious enough to  
resign the leadership over, it is serious enough to warrant resigning  
as an MEP.


ooroo

Bad typists of the word, untie.