Kirkwood escapes standards censure

The Liberal Democrat MP Archy Kirkwood will face no disciplinary action from the parliamentary standards watchdog after an investigation into complaints that he failed to register payments from a trust he chairs.

Philip Mawer, the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, said the MP "did commit an error" in failing to register money he received since 1989 to employ an assistant in his constituency. But he said that no action would be taken because Mr Kirkwood "rectified this omission" when he declared the funds from the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust in November 1990.

The report also says that Mr Kirkwood's register entries relating to the trust "are not as full as they might be" and "could helpfully be amplified".

The inquiry was begun by Mr Mawer's predecessor, Elizabeth Filkin, after complaints from Adrian Flook, Conservative MP for Taunton – following an article in The Independent – and Ian Bruce, a former Conservative MP.

In his first report, Mr Mawer, said that "at all points Mr Kirkwood has answered fully my requests for information". The commissioner added: "I have seen no evidence that Mr Kirkwood failed to register support received in 1992 ...

"I conclude that on the evidence available the complaints made against Mr Kirkwood have no substance ... The temporary omission of an appropriate register entry in 1990, while an error, is long past and was remedied by Mr Kirkwood himself."