Charlie Gordon pays son £13,000 from expenses
Robbie
Dinwoodie, The Herald - January 23 2009
Glasgow MSP Charlie Gordon paid £13,000 of public money to his son's website firm last year, the latest Holyrood expenses figures revealed yesterday.
They showed that the man who had to resign as Labour's transport spokesman because of his role in the Wendy Alexander donations saga has been directing more than £1000 a month to GMG Solutions, a company run by his son, Gavin.
Mr Gordon's entry of £12,822 for "website costs" pushed the total he claimed to £36,760, more than double a typical claim by other Glasgow MSPs.
It also elevated him to 14th place in the table of most expensive MSPs, out of 129, in the company of other big claimants from northern, rural or island constituencies, a long way from Edinburgh. The figures came to light when the total expense returns for the financial year showed that MSPs at Holyrood charged £10.25m for all outlays.
The Cathcart MSP insisted last night that the system of reporting expenses put him at a disadvantage, because other MSPs who employ family members directly do not have to declare their earnings because of data protection laws. He also sent three sample invoices to The Herald, suggesting that, out of the monthly total, only about 20% went on maintaining his personal website, while the rest was charged as "call handling".
Mr Gordon admitted he also employed a constituency secretary and personal assistant, but the union-backed politician said he wanted to "farm out" some of their work to his son's firm. The revelation could provide political opponents with more capital only 14 months after Mr Gordon stepped down from the Labour front bench at Holyrood after he blundered over a £950 donation from Jersey-based businessman Paul Green to Ms Alexander's leadership campaign.
The former Glasgow City Council leader admitted he unwittingly misled Ms Alexander over the details of the donation and agreed the party had broken the law banning donations from overseas. Mr Gordon later said he wrongly believed any contribution under £1000 was legitimate, regardless of origin.
In February last year, the Electoral Commission said the illegal loan had been repaid by Mr Gordon's Glasgow South Labour Party and there would be no further proceedings.
Last night, the MSP said: "We are going into details here on how I handle my office. My main personal assistant was being inhibited on the research side, so I farmed out part of the admin side."
He claimed the parliamentary authorities at Holyrood had agreed to change how this was accounted for, accepting his argument that general administration was separate from website maintenance, and he was surprised this was not reflected in yesterday's information. In total, the 129 MSPs spent around £29,000 on "website costs". Mr Gordon said his son did not want to comment on the matter.
The figures completing the returns for the financial year 2007-08 showed that MSPs charged a total of £10.25m for all outlays, fractionally down on the previous year because incoming MSPs following the May 2007 election took time to establish offices and appoint staff.
There was a near four-fold jump in the allowance for opposition party leaders, mainly due to Ms Alexander staffing her office when she became Labour leader, but the figures were relatively small, just more than £27,000.
The top claimants were all from constituencies a long way from Edinburgh, with Shetland MSP Tavish Scott on £54,434, almost £10,000 ahead of anyone else. Behind him came Tory Jamie McGrigor and other LibDems Mike Rumbles, Nicol Stephen and Jamie Stone.
Of the MSPs who continued in office beyond May 2007, by far the most cost-effective was Margo MacDonald, the Lothians Independent, on £1960.
Education Secretary Fiona Hyslop also came in at a bargain £11,377 in a bottom section of the table which comprised mainly outgoing members spending their winding-up allowance, or new boys and girls just beginning to set up offices.
See also:
What the MSPs claimed in expenses
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