MP BALDRY'S CONSCIENCE IS CLEAR

MP Tony Baldry, who was ordered to apologise in the House of Commons for failing to declare a 5,000 loan from a lawyer he then recommended for a CBE, has told the Banbury Guardian: My conscience is clear.

The Banbury MP was forced to say sorry after the Commons standards watchdog censured him over his dealings with lawyer Sarosh Zaiwalla.

Mr Baldry had twice told the parliamentary standards watchdog that he had not provided a reference for Mr Zaiwalla, even though he had.

A report from the Committee on Standards and Privileges said Mr Baldry s inability to remember recommending Mr Zaiwalla was surprising .

The long-serving MP also apologised personally to members of the North Oxfordshire Conservative Executive and Conservative Party chairman Michael Ancram.

In an interview with the Banbury Guardian he then apologised to his constituents and said they could vote him out of office at the next election if they were not happy with his actions.

Mr Baldry said: My conscience is clear. So far as my constituents are concerned, I am sure that they will keep this issue in proper proportion.

Clearly, there was an error of judgement on my part but nothing at any time was done with any intent to mislead, but my experience serves as a reminder that any of us involved in public life has to be tripley cautious and careful in all our actions.

The all-party Committee on Standards and Privileges upheld two complaints against the Mr Baldry.

They ruled that he failed to uphold the code of conduct for MPs by failing to declare the loan he received from Mr Zaiwalla just 12 days before he recommended him for an honour.

The committee also said Mr Baldry should have registered Zaiwalla and Co as clients for the purpose of booking House of Commons dining rooms on behalf of the Asian Business Breakfast Club.

But a complaint alleging Mr Baldry booked the dining rooms to get round the rules for such bookings, and that the breakfast club was simply a marketing label was thrown out by the watchdog.

Committee members ordered Mr Baldry to apologise to his fellow Members of Parliament with a personal statement.

Last Thursday, Mr Baldry stood up in the House and said: There are many ways to say sorry, but I wish to say sorry sincerely to the House, without hesitation or reservation of any kind.

I hope it will be appreciated by all concerned that it is not always possible to have a total recall of events, particularly some years previous, and I can only say to the House that at all times whilst these matters have been under consideration I have sought to co-operate fully with the Parliamentary Commissioner and to give truthful and accurate responses.

Afterwards, he spoke to the Banbury Guardian. Mr Baldry said he had known Sarosh Zaiwalla since the early 1980s and approached him for the loan because he was not embarrassed to do so .

Negotiations for the loan were conducted on December 5, 1996, at the time Mr Baldry was a Minister in the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food.

He said that at no time during discussion with Mr Zaiwalla regarding the loan was there a direct or indirect mention of an honour.

Mr Baldry said Lord Feldman had telephoned him to ask for a reference for Mr Zaiwalla.

He said: I don t have an independent recollection of that telephone call. I must have dictated a short, two paragraph reference in response to that telephone call and sent it to Lord Feldman which he then, as he told the Parliamentary Commissioner, added to the many others he had received.

Mr Baldry said he has no records of his conversation with Lord Feldman and no copy of the reference he wrote. He said these records were disposed of when he moved in to a new office when his stint as a Minister came to an end.

He added: It is very frustrating not to have a total recall of all the events at this time, but it was a particularly hectic time.