Mr Andrew Mackay and Ms Julie Kirkbride

Book excerpt: Mr Andrew Mackay was MP for Berkshire East and then Bracknell from 1983 to 2010. His wife, Ms Julie Kirkbride, was MP for Bromsgrove from 1997 to 2010. They had homes in Bromsgrove and in London. For Parliamentary allowance purposes, the Bromsgrove property was Mr Mackay's declared main home and Ms Kirkbride's second home; the London property was Ms Kirkbride's declared main home and Mr Mackay's second home. In October 2009, the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards received a complaint about the claims made by both Ms Kirkbride and Mr Mackay. The complaint against Mr Mackay was that he had wrongly identified the Bromsgrove property as his main home for the purposes of making ACA claims. The complaint against Ms Kirkbride was that she had wrongly claimed against ACA for the cost of building an extension to the same property. The complaint made against Ms Kirkbride is not upheld. Commissioner and Committee conclude, however, that Mr Andrew Mackay breached the rules relating to second home allowances by wrongly designating his home in Bromsgrove as his main home for ACA purposes and because his claims against ACA for his London home were not beyond reproach. The Committee is very disappointed that, even after seeing the Commissioner's full report, Mr Mackay maintains that he did not break the rules, when it is quite clear that he did. Mr Mackay, no longer a Member of Parliament, should apologise in writing.