Labour MP used taxpayers’ money to gag Jewish aide
Assistant made claim of religious discrimination Former expenses watchdog questions non-disclosure deal
A LABOUR frontbencher used taxpayers’ money to silence his Jewish parliamentary assistant after she accused him of religious discrimination, The Daily Telegraph can disclose.
Khalid Mahmood, the shadow Europe minister, was taken to an employment tribunal by Elaina Cohen, his assistant and former lover. The case was settled and Ms Cohen signed a non-disclosure agreement as a condition of an out-of-court settlement, which bars both him and her from discussing the matter publicly.
Mr Mahmood’s costs of dealing with the claim were covered by insurance, which is funded by the parliamentary expenses system and made available to all MPS. He also received separate legal and staffing costs totalling almost £40,000.
The case will raise concerns that Ipsa, the expenses watchdog, is allowing the system to be used to fund controversial non-disclosure agreements.
It will also raise further questions about Labour’s handling of anti-semitism cases. Sources told The Telegraph that Jeremy Corbyn’s office was made aware of the case.
While the non-disclosure agreement signed by Mr Mahmood and Ms Cohen was understood to have been part of a standard settlement agreement, MPS have raised concerns over the use of such clauses, which are also referred to as gagging orders, amid concerns that they could be used to “conceal improper, discriminatory or even illegal behaviour”.
Ms Cohen, 60, still works for Mr Mahmood, 57, and accompanied the MP on a trip to Morocco last December.
While unable to discuss the detail of her case under the terms of the gagging order, she criticised the use of expenses to fund Mr Mahmood’s legal costs.
She said: “I complained to Ipsa several times on the unfairness of substantial public funds being used. Ipsa should not be funding MPS in actions against their members of staff.”
Mr Mahmood said: “There was an agreement that was signed which forbids me to go into any details in relation to [the case].”
Sir Alistair Graham, the former chairman of the committee on standards in public life, said: “If public money is involved, there should not be secret deals like non-disclosure agreements used to resolve staff issues. This is about transparency.”
According to official records, Mr Mahmood spent £37,000 of taxpayers’ money on staff to cover for Ms Cohen during the tribunal, and used insurance purchased on his expenses to fund his legal costs and a settlement for Ms Cohen.
Mr Mahmood and Ms Cohen were previously exposed by this newspaper for claiming luxury hotel stays on his expenses while they were lovers, in an affair that ended a decade ago.
The current row started in 2016 when the MP for Birmingham Perry Barr disciplined his former lover over her conduct towards Naz Shah, another Labour MP.
Ms Cohen had called Ms Shah “antizionist” in one of two accusatory tweets. Ms Shah responded by reporting Ms Cohen to the police and allegedly saying that the assistant was “jealous” of her contact with her boss.
Mr Mahmood then suspended Ms Cohen and began an internal disciplinary process against her. Ms Shah was subsequently suspended herself by Labour over anti-semitic Facebook posts.
In the summer of 2016, Ms Cohen returned to work after being exonerated, only to find that she had effectively been replaced.
She launched a religious discrimination claim, which was settled out of court in 2017. As part of the settlement, Ms Cohen returned to work for the MP.
Mr Mahmood’s legal costs of the employment case, including the settlement, are covered by employment practices liability insurance, paid for by Ipsa, the MP expenses watchdog, at £570 a year. Mr Mahmood claimed another £2,400 in legal expenses, and
‘Both the public and Mr Mahmood’s constituents should be able to see how he has come to spend so much’
also received nearly £28,845 from Ipsa in extra staffing costs to provide cover for Ms Cohen.
Mr Mahmood said Ipsa was “fully aware” that this sum was to deal with the fall-out from the discrimination case and all the money was used to consecutively hire two part-time workers to cover Ms Cohen’s duties.
Full-time parliamentary assistant jobs are capped at £31,000 – but Mr Mahmood spent nearly £37,000 on the part-time cover, around £8,000 more than the figure approved by Ipsa.
Sir Alistair said: “Both the public and Mr Mahmood’s constituents should be able to see how he has come to spend so much public money.”
A spokesman for Ipsa said: “MPS may apply for a contingency payment for costs which are not covered by the [MPS’ expenses] scheme or where they expect to exceed a particular budget.
“Applications are considered by the Contingency Panel who assess whether there are exceptional circumstances warranting extra support.” Ipsa would not say whether it had taken any action against Mr Mahmood for his ninemonth delay in repaying his £8,016 overspend. The money should have been repaid within 30 days.
The MP said he is now planning to question Ipsa on the figures. The watchdog said it was confident they were correct.
Mr Mahmood said: “This is not an expense which is unwarranted. Part of the problem with this is it puts all the burden on Members of Parliament, without having any real support to deal with this sort of situation, when such an issue arises with staff in offices.”