Electoral Commission rules out inquiry into NI payments to Andy Coulson
Watchdog says there is no evidence that Conservative party breached electoral law by failing to declare payments
The Conservative party will not face an official inquiry into allegations that it broke electoral law by failing to declare News International's payments to its former head of communications, Andy Coulson, after the elections watchdog concluded that there was insufficient evidence of a breach.
The Electoral Commission had been asked to investigate a series of payments amounting to a six-figure sum made to Coulson by News International in the months after he arrived at Conservative campaign headquarters in 2007, as well as a company car and health insurance he received for three years.
Tom Watson, the Labour MP and member of the Commons culture select committee, had raised concerns that the money could have amounted to an undeclared donation to the party.
The revelation that Coulson received the severance payments from News International while working for the Conservatives put renewed pressure on the party, which had previously denied that he was paid by anyone else while employed by them.
The Electoral Commission said there was no evidence that the payments related to his political activity with the Conservative party in any way. Specifically, they had not received evidence that the payments had subsidised Coulson's wage, or that the health insurance had saved the party money.
Watson has separately written to the parliamentary standards commissioner asking him to investigate why the payments were not declared in a register of passholders for 2007.
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