Probe into Peers who milk taxpayer for £300-a-day has been dropped as it might embarrass the guilty members
A PROBE into peers who milk the £300 daily allowance without doing any work was dropped because of fears it would embarrass those found guilty.
Former Lord Speaker Baroness D’Souza said she spent months identifying which members of the House of Lords ripped off the taxpayer.
But she “abandoned” the research to avoid a “press storm”.
The peer said: “It would have involved a degree of naming and shaming which I certainly didn’t want to do.”
It is further evidence of the upper chamber’s failure to reform its out-of-date practices.
Baroness D’Souza – who made the shock revelation in a BBC documentary set to be aired tonight – revealed last month that she saw a peer duck into the Lords to picket his £300 daily allowance with his taxi’s engine still running.
In tonight’s episode David Cameron is savaged by former Commons Speaker Baroness Boothroyd for filling the Lords with his cronies.
The ex-Prime Minister created peers at a faster rate than any of his predecessors. Baroness Boothroyd blasted: “I think quite frankly it’s a disgrace.”
Lord Heseltine’s poor attendance record was also singled out for criticism.
Lord Blencathra said: “There are some people who have tremendous expertise or may be held high positions in government but if they are never here now then what is the point in staying on.
“I’m thinking of the deputy prime minister in the Conservative government under John Major, now let’s find him, ah, there he is…Lord Heseltine, 3 per cent attendance in the whole of the last parliament.”
A spokesperson for the House of Lords said: "No official investigation was started or dropped, by Baroness D’Souza while she was Lord Speaker.
"What is shown in the documentary is private research undertaken by Baroness D’Souza in a personal capacity. What she chose to do with that research is a matter for her.
"The House of Lords has a robust system for dealing with allegations of breaches of the Code of Conduct including the power to suspend and expel Members, with investigations carried out by the independent Commissioner for Standards. That is the appropriate mechanism for raising concerns of this nature."