St Albans peer was not entitled to expenses

Published: 1:01 PM June 2, 2009 Updated: 2:40 PM November 1, 2020

A PEER living in St Albans has admitted claiming �18,000 a year for staying overnight in London when he either stayed with friends or went home. Lord Clarke of Hampstead, 77, confessed to claiming the expenses to which he was not entitled and has promise

A PEER living in St Albans has admitted claiming �18,000 a year for staying overnight in London when he either stayed with friends or went home.

Lord Clarke of Hampstead, 77, confessed to claiming the expenses to which he was not entitled and has promised to try and make amends.

A former postman and trade unionist, the contrite peer told the Sunday Times that he had claimed an allowance of up to �174 a night.

A former Labour party chairman, he has been a member of the House of Lords since 1998. He has said he would try to "make amends" after speaking to his accountants.

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Arsenal fanatic Lord Clarke, the son of a chauffeur and a maid, was evacuated to Bedfordshire from the capital with his siblings at the outbreak of World War Two. But his mother brought them back to Hampstead after she paid a visit to where they were living.

He started work at 14 as a telegraph boy in 1946. After a short spell in the army he became a postman and got involved as a post office trade unionist.