Commons registrar clears Kirkwood

The senior Liberal Democrat MP Archy Kirkwood said last night that he had been cleared of failing to register thousands of pounds in payments from a charitable trust.

The Independent revealed last year that Mr Kirkwood had apparently failed to register payments from the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust in 1989 and 1992 to pay the salary of a constituency assistant. The trust paid the salary of Paul Jacobs, an assistant who worked from 1989 to 1992 for Mr Kirkwood in his Scottish constituency. No payments were made directly to the MP. Mr Kirkwood did not record the payment until November 1990.

The Conservatives will this week ask Elizabeth Filkin, the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, to investigate. Mr Kirkwood sits on the Commons Commission, the all-party committee of senior MPs that decided not to renew Ms Filkin's contract last year.

Alda Barry, the registrar of members' interests, has written to Mr Kirkwood, saying he need take no further action. Ms Barry wrote: "You had a registrable interest which you did not declare at the appropriate time but you remedied the omission in November 1990. In these circumstances, nothing further can be, or needs to be, done."