Maria Miller: "I wish I could have stayed"
Maria Miller has denied
being forced to stand down as culture secretary after a damaging row
about her expenses, insisting it was her decision.
"I take full responsibility for my decision to resign. I think it's the right thing to do," she said.
Appearing close to tears, she said the row had become an
"enormous distraction" from "the incredible achievements of this
government".
Conservative MP Sajid Javid is to replace her as culture secretary.
The MP for Bromsgrove will be promoted from his current role as
Financial Secretary to the Treasury.
But
Prime Minister David Cameron said he hoped Mrs Miller would return to the cabinet "in due course".
Mrs Miller was cleared of funding a home for her parents at
taxpayers' expense, but was told to repay £5,800 of the expenses she
claimed.
The independent parliamentary commissioner for standards had previously recommended she repay £45,000.
But the lower sum was approved by the Commons
Standards Committee,
which has the final say on whether to accept the commissioner's
recommendations - a decision which sparked a backlash across the
political spectrum and calls for changes in how complaints against MPs
are investigated.
'Enormous distraction'
“Start Quote
This decision is a defeat for a
minister who believes she has been found not guilty on the central
charge of asking the taxpayer to pay for a home for her elderly parents”
Nick Robinson
BBC political editor
The committee also criticised her
"attitude" during the investigation, which it ruled was a breach of the
parliamentary code of conduct.
Mrs Miller apologised in the Commons, but was criticised for the brevity of the statement she made.
David Cameron's official spokesman said the PM and Mrs Miller discussed her future on
Tuesday night and her resignation was confirmed on Wednesday morning.
In a TV interview, she dismissed speculation that she had been pushed into resigning by
Downing Street.
"I was cleared of the central allegation made about me by a Labour MP," she said.
"I hoped that I could stay, but it has become clear to me
over the last few days that this has become an enormous distraction, and
it's not right that I'm detracting from the incredible achievements of
this government.
"I've been a member of the Conservative Party for 30 years.
"I continue to support, obviously, my colleagues here in Parliament, the government, and above all the prime minister."
Education Secretary Michael Gove said he was "saddened" by the news.
"She worked incredibly hard as part of a team," he told BBC
Radio 4's Today programme. "She has done some brave and right things,
not least that equal marriage is now on the statute book."
Mr Gove, a former journalist, said he "would not criticise
the press", but said: "Over the course of the a last couple of days the
pressure on Maria Miller grew more intense.
Mr Gove said politicians still needed to reflect on the level of public anger about expenses
"Some of the criticism directed at her had been very personal, and it must have been hurtful," he continued.
He also commended Mr Cameron's defence of Mrs Miller, arguing
that his "loyalty, that desire to think the best of those who work with
him, is a virtue".
"I don't think his judgement has been flawed," he said.
"The prime minister's attitude throughout has been governed by the basic human decency that is his hallmark."
It comes a day before Parliament breaks for its Easter recess
and ahead of a session of Prime Minister's Questions at which Mr
Cameron was expected to come under pressure over the row.
'Incandescent'
Labour MP John Mann, whose complaint sparked the investigation into Mrs Miller's expenses, welcomed her resignation.
"My reaction is it's about time too... Maria Miller should
have resigned immediately and when she didn't resign, David Cameron
should have shown a bit of leadership and he should have sacked her," he
told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
"There is a difference between loyalty and blind loyalty," he continued later.
Voters were "incandescent" about Mrs Miller's expenses claims
and Mr Cameron's "failure to act" had been "incomprehensible to most
people", Mr Mann said.
He also said that criticism of the media's role in the affair was "total rubbish".
Labour MP John Mann said Maria Miller should have resigned "days ago"
"There's only one person who is responsible for Maria Miller's
behaviour and that's Maria Miller, and there's only one person who is
responsible for David Cameron's indecisiveness, and that's David
Cameron. They should stop briefing and attacking other people.
"There's a word missing in British politics these days and
that's honour, and I would define honour as: if you've done something
wrong, as a cabinet minister, you resign - and if you don't resign you
get sacked."
'Devastated'
Conservative Party chairman Grant Shapps said: "Labour is
making much of this today, but let's face it they have MPs who have gone
to jail - which is something that hasn't happened on our side - for
wrongdoing."
Because Mrs Miller's case related to claims made between 2005
and 2009, before the expenses system was reformed, the investigation
was governed by the rules which were in place at the time, Mr Shapps
said, with MPs seen to be "judging themselves".
This was a discredited system, Mr Shapps said, adding: "In
future that is resolved by the fact that it all goes now to an
independent body in the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority,
that there is a lower tier tribunal which would look after these cases
and can make judgements that the public can have confidence in. It's
long overdue."
Maria Miller: "I fully accept the recommendations of the committee and thank them for bringing this matter to an end"
In her resignation letter to the prime minister, Mrs Miller
said she was "immensely proud" of her work in cabinet, including
"putting in place the legislation to enable all couples to have the
opportunity to marry regardless of their sexuality".
She also acknowledged that her role in "implementing the
recommendations made by Lord Justice Leveson on the future of media
regulation, following the phone hacking scandals, would always be
controversial for the press".
The prime minister said he was sorry to receive Mrs Miller's resignation but accepted her decision.
"I think it is important to be clear that the Committee on
Standards cleared you of the unfounded allegations made against you, a
point which has been lost in much of the comment in recent days," he
wrote.
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