Peer in court on expenses charges

A former Tory peer appeared in court today accused of false accounting after he was questioned over the parliamentary expenses scandal.

Lord Taylor of Warwick is alleged to have dishonestly claimed more than £24,300 in overnight subsistence and mileage claims.

He was summoned to face six charges at City of Westminster magistrates' court.

The first charge alleges that, on or about March 31 2006, Lord Taylor dishonestly submitted claims for overnight subsistence and car mileage stating that his main place of residence was outside London when he did not reside at the address he had given but actually resided in the capital.

The subsequent charges allege similar claims were made on July 3 2006, October 31 2006, April 5 2007, July 2 2007 and October 31 2007.

Lord Taylor, who was wearing a blue suit and spotted tie, stood in the dock and spoke only to confirm his address and date of birth.

His defence counsel, Eddie Tang, gave an indication of his not guilty plea to the charges.

District judge Jeremy Coleman granted him unconditional bail and ordered him to appear for a plea and case management hearing at Southwark Crown Court on September 17.

Simon Clements, prosecuting, said the six summonses were in respect of 16 claims between March 2006 and October 2007 totalling £24,300.

Director of Public Prosecutions Keir Starmer QC and Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson set up a panel of senior officers and solicitors in May 2009 to consider political expenses cases.

Lord Taylor, 57, whose full name is John David Beckett Taylor, was made the first black Tory peer four years after unsuccessfully fighting the 1992 general election in Cheltenham.

He has been a practising barrister, an adviser to Cabinet ministers and a television presenter.

Lord Tebbit once predicted he would eventually become a Cabinet minister but others subjected him to racial abuse.

He was born in Birmingham, the son of a professional cricketer and a nurse, both originally from Jamaica. His father played for Warwickshire and the West Indies.

Lord Taylor was called to the bar in 1978, joining the same chambers as Kenneth Clarke, the Tory Cabinet minister. He later worked as an adviser to Home Office ministers.