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Sir Nick ‘hurt’ by expenses scandal

Ben Turner
6/ 8/2008

SIR NICHOLAS Winterton has repeated his claim that David Cameron’s "mafia" is out to get him.

Speaking at his Congleton home on ITV’s Granada Edition, broadcast on Friday (August 1), he also admitted feeling under pressure over the recent expenses scandal concerning the £140,000 he and wife Lady Ann Winterton claimed illegitimately for their London home.

But he insisted that they had "no ethical or moral obligation" to pay the money back.

"I am a straightforward guy and believe if an arrangement is entered into, that arrangement sticks," said Macclesfield’s long-standing Conservative MP. I was ignorant of the change (to Parliamentary guidelines)."

It was accepted that they had breached rules "unwittingly" and they had sought to rectify the situation "immediately", he added.

"We have been under pressure," he admitted. "It has been very hurtful, but the encouragement and support we have had from constituents, and right across the House of Commons, has been tremendous."

He added he was proud of Macclesfield, and that the town was important to him.

Of his quote last month in the Macclesfield Express, that a Conservative party "mafia" linked to David Cameron wanted him sacked from the party, he said: "It is only strong because it is what has been reported in the papers. I can only say he hasn’t said he wants me out to my face."

The couple have written to their leader, asking him to disassociate himself from a comment he is said to have made that their position over the expenses was "indefensible".