Monday, July 6, 1998 Published at 17:24 GMT 18:24 UK
Sleaze watchdog paid £500 a day
Watchdog Lord Neill, who earns £500 a day in his role
Sleaze watchdog Lord Neill is being paid £500 a day for his role, the government has revealed.
Public Service Minister Dr David Clark said in a Commons written reply that the peer had spent 44 full working days on duties as chairman of the Committee on Standards in Public Life up to April, for which he was paid a total of £22,000.
Lord Neill, also a barrister, was appointed chairman of the committee on November 10, taking over from its first chairman, Lord Nolan.
Backbench MPs were outraged last month when it emerged he had agreed to act in court for Westminster council leader Dame Shirley Porter in her appeal against a £27m surcharge in the homes-for-votes scandal.
But he later withdrew from the case, citing perceived conflict of interest between his role as her lawyer and as chairman of the Committee on Standards in Public Life.
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