A former British minister faced a week-long suspension from the House of Commons Thursday after lawmakers found him guilty of breaking rules on expenses as he tried to hide his homosexuality. David Laws landed a key role in the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition when it was formed after May 2010 elections, but quit within weeks over the scandal, in a blow to the fledgling government. The Lib Dem lawmaker resigned as chief secretary to the Treasury after admitting he had failed to disclose that he had claimed back rent he paid to his boyfriend because he wanted to keep the relationship secret. He referred himself to the parliamentary authorities, and the standards watchdog concluded Thursday that he was guilty of “a series of serious breaches of the rules” on expenses and should be suspended for seven days.
Lawmakers will vote on the recommendations on Monday, which are likely to delay any attempt by Laws to return to frontline politics. The millionaire former banker had been one of the chief architects of a plan to slash Britain’s budget deficit in his role as deputy to finance minister George Osborne. He resigned after a newspaper reported he had channelled thousand of pounds of taxpayers’ money in rent to his long-term male partner, James Lundie.
