The Daily Telegraph in 2009 exposed Hogg for claiming upwards of £2,000 of taxpayers' money for the purposes of "cleaning the moat" of his country estate, Kettlethorpe Hall; thus he became one of the most prominent illustrations used by the media to portray the extent of the parliamentary expenses scandal, although it later emerged that Hogg had been encouraged by the House of Commons Fees Office (Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority's precursor) to submit equivalent en bloc expenses "so as to reduce admin". As a result of the negative publicity, Hogg did not seek re-election at the 2010 general election.
A few weeks before the murder of Belfast soliticer Pat Finucane, Hogg, then a junior British minister, stated in Parliament that certain lawyers were "unduly sympathetic to the IRA."[4] In the Stevens Inquiry run by the British state,[5] Hoggs comments in parliament were deemed to have potentially lead to the killing of Belfast solicitor Pat Finnucane [5]
"2.17 My Enquiry team also investigated an allegation that senior RUC officers briefed the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for the Home Department, the Rt Hon Douglas Hogg QC, MP, that 'some solicitors were unduly sympathetic to the cause of the IRA'. Mr Hogg repeated this view during a debate on the Prevention of Terrorism legislation in the House of Commons. Within a few weeks Patrick Finucane was murdered. Mr Hogg's comments about solicitors' support for terrorism made on 17 January 1989 aroused controversy. To the extent that they were based on information passed by the RUC, they were not justifiable and the Enquiry concludes that the Minister was compromised.
Hogg was moved in 1990 under the leadership of Prime Minister John Major to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, becoming a member of the Privy Council in 1992. He joined Major's Cabinet as the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food in 1995, serving in that capacity during the BSE crisis for which he received much criticism[6] and remaining in post until the election of Tony Blair's Labour Government in 1997.
On 3 March 1997, a disgruntled farmer from Anglesey, Louis Hayward, drove six hours from his farm to Kettlethorpe Hall in order to dump three tonnes of pig manure outside Hogg's house.
Following the 1997 general election, Hogg was appointed a member of the Home Affairs Select Committee for a year and was a backbencher Member of Parliament until 2010. The House of Lords Act 1999 removed the automatic right of hereditary peers to a seat in the House of Lords, so when his father died in 2001 (being heir apparent to the peerage), he was not required (as would previously have been the case) to resign from the House of Commons and remained an MP until retiring in 2010.
Stevens Enquiry
In the report of his enquiry concerning collusion in Northern Ireland between loyalist paramilitaries and the security forces, under "Other Matters concerning Collusion", a section of Sir John Stevens' report reads:
"2.17 My Enquiry team also investigated an allegation that senior Royal Ulster Constabulary officers briefed the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department, the Rt Hon Douglas Hogg QC MP, that 'some solicitors were unduly sympathetic to the cause of the IRA'. Mr Hogg repeated this view [their expressed concerns] during a debate on the Prevention of Terrorism legislation in the House of Commons. Within a few weeks Patrick Finucane was murdered. Mr Hogg's comments about solicitors' support for terrorism made on 17 January 1989 aroused controversy. To the extent that they were based on information passed by the RUC, they were not justifiable and the Enquiry [Inquiry] concludes that the Minister was compromised."[7]
In 2009, during the row over MPs' expenses, The Daily Telegraph alleged that Hogg had submitted and was paid a claim form including more than £2,000 for the moat around his country estate, Kettlethorpe Hall,[9] to be cleared.[10] The taxpayer helped meet the cost of a full-time housekeeper. Other allegations included expenses for work done to Hogg's stables and for his piano to be tuned.[11] He generously spent or perhaps somewhat overspent on his farm and home office: Hogg agreed a deal with the expenses office simply to have one twelfth of the second homes allowance paid into his bank account every month.[9]
In his defence, Hogg resolutely claimed he had not claimed for moat cleaning, and that the items were a list of all expenses incurred during house works, most of which were not paid for by the taxpayer. Hogg responded to the newspaper's claims by saying he had agreed the claims with the Fees Office, and therefore hoped and believed that they would comply with the rules and the "spirit of the rules" as advised.[12] In saying that his claims complied with both the spirit and letter of the rules,[13] Hogg said he had issued, in the interests of transparency, full lists of all his expenditure on the property but these were never meant to be the record of a claim.[14]
On 14 May, Hogg agreed to repay the £2,200 cost of clearing the moat, after an order from the party leadership. He maintained he had not claimed the money, but agreed it had not been "positively excluded" from paperwork submitted to the Commons Fees Office.[15] Following the scandal, Hogg announced on 19 May 2009 that he would not stand at the following general election.[16]
On 12 October 2015, he was created a life peer as Baron Hailsham of Kettlethorpe, of Kettlethorpe in the County of Lincolnshire,[20] enabling him to sit in the House of Lords.
Hon. Quintin John Neil Martin Hogg (born 12 October 1973), heir apparent to the viscountcy.
As his wife was created a life peer as Baroness Hogg in 1995, the Hailshams are among the few couples both of whom hold noble titles in their own right.[citation needed]
Out of an Eastern Crown Argent an Oak-tree fructed Proper pendant therefrom an Escutcheon Azure charged with a Dexter arm embowed in armour the hand grasping an Arrow in bend sinister the point downwards also Proper.
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Argent three Boars' Heads erased Azure langued Gules between two Flaunches also Azure each charged with a Crescent of the Field.
Supporters
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^"Douglas Hogg MP". TheyWorkForYou. mySociety is a project of UK Citizens Online Democracy (UKCOD). UKCOD is a registered charity in England and Wales, no. 1076346. Retrieved 12 May 2009.
^"Sleaford MP denies he claimed expenses for moat cleaning". Sleaford Standard. Sleaford, Lincolnshire. 12 May 2009. Retrieved 13 May 2009. MP Douglas Hogg has denied newspaper reports that he claimed more than £2,000 in expenses to have the moat at his Lincolnshire home cleaned. ...the Sleaford and North Hykeham MP told The Standard: "I have never claimed for the moat, or for the piano tuning – the allegation that I did is incorrect. I never claimed for these and I never received any money. "The work to the stables that The Telegraph mentioned was actually for maintenance of security lights which were installed by the Home Office as part of the response to an IRA threat." He said he had issued, in the interests of full transparency, full lists of all his expenditure on the property but these were never meant to be the record of a claim. Mr Hogg said it was clear to the Fees Office that the overall allowable expenses were over the Additional Costs Allowance and that his claim only covered utilities, council tax, building insurance, the alarm system, heating, repairs and maintenance of house and garden and 65% of the cost of a housekeeper to clean and maintain the house and look after it when he and his wife, Baroness Hogg, were away. He said: "It was on this basis and with the express agreement of the Fees Office, in advance and in writing that I was making a monthly claim equal to one-twelfth of the ACA." Mr Hogg added: "I am amongst the lowest claimers in Parliament – specifically 551st out of 645 MPs in 2007/8. "There is no doubt that our system has lost public confidence and we as parliamentarians have got to accept that we are responsible for having put the system in place and that it is probably flawed. "We got it wrong and need to apologise for that, and I do apologise for it."
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