Elliot Morley

Elliot Anthony Morley (born 6 July 1952) is a British former Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Glanford and Scunthorpe from 1987 to 1997 and then Scunthorpe from 1997 to 2010. In 2009, he was accused by The Daily Telegraph of continuing to claim parliamentary expenses for a mortgage that had already been repaid. Morley was prosecuted and on 7 April 2011 pleaded guilty in Southwark Crown Court to two counts of false accounting, involving over £30,000. On 20 May 2011, he was sentenced to 16 months' imprisonment. He was released from prison on 20 September 2011 having served a quarter of his sentence.

Early life He attended St Margaret's C of E High School on Aigburth Road in Aigburth in south Liverpool and received a BEd from Hull College of Education. He was head of Special Needs at Greatfield High School in Hull.

Political career

Before entering Parliament, Morley was a Labour member of Hull City Council representing Drypool Ward from 1979 to 1986. He stood unsuccessfully for Beverley in 1983.

He served as Fisheries Minister from 1997 to 2003, and then as Environment Minister in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, but left government in the May 2006 reshuffle. During his time in government, Morley pushed for a series of environmental causes. In 2004, he sought to strengthen the United Kingdom's efforts to purchase legally harvested lumber and aided the launch of a programme to manage flooding and coastal erosion called 'WaveNet'. In 2005 Morley assisted in the establishment of a Governmental Decontamination Service, to provide decontamination and cleansing assistance after chemical, radiological, biological, or nuclear incidents and major accidental releases of harmful materials.

On 19 December 2006 he was appointed to the Privy Council. This was revoked on 8 June 2011. He was Chairman of the Energy and Climate Change Select Committee, leaving this post when his expenses claims came under investigation. In 2007 Morley voted to support the Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill, which would have given Parliament a blanket exemption from the Freedom of Information Act and thereby prevent the release of any information on expenses claims by Members of Parliament. However the Bill was defeated.

Expenses claims

As part of its disclosure of expenses of British Members of Parliament, The Daily Telegraph alleged on 14 May 2009 that Morley claimed £800 a month in respect of a property in Winterton, near Scunthorpe, for 18 months after the mortgage ended, and received an overpayment of £16,800 in total. Morley referred himself to John Lyon, Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, in an effort to clear his name.

Prosecution On 5 February 2010, it was reported that Morley would face criminal charges over his expenses, On 27 May 2010, Morley, David Chaytor, Jim Devine, and Lord Hanningfield (Paul White) appeared at Southwark Crown Court for a preliminary hearing. They faced charges of false accounting under the Theft Act.

Morley was previously an Honorary Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers for services to flood and coastal defence. He was expelled from the Institution of Civil Engineers on 4 July 2011, when the Institution's Professional Conduct Panel ruled that due to his breaching of "Rule 1 of the Rules of Professional Conduct, which require all members to uphold the dignity, standing and reputation of the Institution" by "committing offences of False Accounting in connection with his responsibilities as a Member of Parliament" he should be expelled from the Institution.

Personal life Morley married Patricia Hunt in 1975