Tories pay another £22,000 to ex-ministers 'by mistake' after Peter Bone gaffe

22 January 2024 , 14:09

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Sir David Evennett and Baroness Stedman-Scott got paid the money by mistake

Inept Tories have handed more than £22,000 in taxpayer cash to two ex-ministers by mistake.

Baroness Stedman-Scott and Sir David Evennett received generous severance packages when they left their Government roles. But neither were entitled to the money as they were over the age of 65.

The blunders have emerged after we revealed yesterday that flasher ex-MP Peter Bone had wrongly been paid almost £5,600.

Baroness Stedman-Scott got £17,442 when she stood down as a Department of Work and Pensions minister in 2022. The Ministerial and other Pensions and Salaries Act 1991 states that departing ministers are only entitled to the cash if they are under the age of 65. Baroness Stedman-Scott was 67 at the time.

Sir David got £4,479 when he left his post as a Government whip in October 2022 even though he was 73.

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Labour’s Emily Thornberry, who uncovered the severance pay blunder, said: "To make one of these payments by mistake might be regarded as unfortunate; but to make three is rank incompetence. This is £27,514 of taxpayers' money and for it to be handed out to Tory ministers who weren't even eligible is an insult to every family in our country struggling with the cost of living crisis."

The Mirror reported yesterday that Mr Bone received a severance payment of £5,593 when he mysteriously was removed from his post as Deputy Commons Leader at the end of September 2022. He was 69 at the time.

Mr Bone was booted out of the Commons in December by his constituents in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, after he was given a six-week ban from Parliament for bullying and sexual misconduct against a member of staff. A Commons sleaze watchdog found he repeatedly asked his researcher to give him massages, thrown pens at him and exposed himself when they were away on a work trip.

In one shocking incident, Mr Bone is alleged to have struck the aide on the back of his head and told him: “You’re having a thick day and I thought that would help”. Parliament's Independent Expert (IEP) Panel ruled that Mr Bone had engaged in “a wilful pattern of bullying”, which “also included an unwanted incident of sexual misconduct, when the complainant was trapped in a room with the respondent in a hotel in Madrid”.

John Stevens