David Cameron has suffered a fresh political blow as the Conservative Party chairman admits that she failed to declare thousands of pounds in rental income. Baroness Warsi became the first Muslim woman to be selected as a parliamentary candidate by the Tories, contesting the Dewsbury seat in 2005, but failed to win.
Baroness Warsi said she did not tell House of Lords authorities that she was receiving income from a London property she had bought and rented out. She apologised last night for the breach of parliamentary guidelines, blaming “an oversight, for which I take full responsibility”. However, she claimed she had paid tax on the rent. The disclosure, the latest in a series of crises to hit Mr Cameron, comes as the future of Jeremy Hunt, the Culture Secretary, is called into question once again. Senior sources told The Sunday Telegraph that Mr Hunt, who will be questioned under oath at Lord Leveson’s inquiry into media standards this week, could temporarily step down from front-line politics after the Olympics. It follows intense pressure over his handling of the attempt by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation to take full control of BSkyB.
The admission by Baroness Warsi is a serious blow to the Conservative Party’s pledge to be transparent in its dealings, and will increase pressure on Mr Cameron to replace her in a reshuffle. The failure to make a declaration means that the public was unaware that she had another source of income, over and above her salary, which is paid by the Conservative Party, and the £300 a day allowance which she is eligible to claim when she attends the Lords.