“Cash for honours” crusader Angus MacNeil threatened to call in Scotland Yard yesterday after new allegations were raised in a Lib Dem lord’s vitriolic swansong.
The SNP MP said that he would contact Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe this week and urge him to reopen investigations in light of recently departed Lib Dem peer Lord Oakeshott’s claim he had “failed” to stop the illegal deals, even in his own party.
The peer’s scathing resignation statement in the face of a failed leadership coup described the House of Lords as a “bloated balloon” before going on to accuse his own party of trading titles to wealthy donors.
“When Charles Kennedy rang to make me a peer, from a panel elected by the party, 14 years ago he said he wanted me to shake up the Lords,” he said.
“I’ve tried — my Bills to ban non-domiciled peers are now law — but my efforts to expose and end cash for peerages in all parties, including our own, and help get the Lords elected have failed,” he said.
The sale of honours is a serious but narrowly defined criminal offence, making prosecutions rare.
But Mr MacNeil, whose inquiries launched a 2006 investigation into similar allegations against the Labour Party, said the lord’s “explosive remarks demanded at least an initial investigation.
“Lord Oakeshott’s comments are bigger than any admission that emerged through the last cash for honours investigation.
“His claims resurrect this whole scandal, and we need full disclosure of which members of the House of Lords he is talking about, and what they gave in return for a peerage,” he said.