Spel, the end?

TOP Tory Caroline Spelman—already under investigation for paying her nanny from public funds—was last night embroiled in a NEW £100,000 cash row.

For the Conservative Party chairman used taxpayers’ cash to pay her top aide, DESPITE him undertaking party political work.

Mrs Spelman used parliamentary staffing allowances to pay her chief of staff Simon Cawte up to £47,500 annual salary for up to TWO years during her spell as the party’s Shadow Local Government Secretary.

But parliament’s rulebook specificially FORBIDS paying party political staff out of the public purse.

The revelation heaps more pressure on Tory leader David Cameron to sack Mrs Spelman, who is incredibly his own official sleazebuster.

Cameron is desperate to avoid the return of Tory sleaze headlines, and will also be furious with the timing of the latest revelation as it will take attention away from Gordon Brown’s troubles.

Labour MP John Mann demanded a probe. He said: “There should be an investigation into this. You can’t use parliamentary resources for party politics. That is not what they are there for.

“This would be bad enough from a backbench MP. But Caroline Spelman is now the chairman of the party. Above anyone else she should be setting an example.”

Cawte moved with Mrs Spelman when she became Tory chairman in June last year, after her three years in the local government post.

Now his salary is paid by the party, as it was before he worked for Mrs Spelman. But a spokesman for Mrs Spelman denied that any rules had been broken, saying: “It is entirely wrong to suggest Simon Cawte was not paid in accordance with the rules. Simon Cawte was employed to support Caroline Spelman in her role as part of the Official Opposition in Parliament.

“He discharged duties such as speech writing and answering correspondence relating to Caroline Spelman’s role as the Shadow Local Government Secretary. This is entirely permissable within the rules.”

But the News of the World can reveal he wrote openly political letters blasting the Labour government and urging people to vote Tory. In one in October 2006 to campaigners for an English Parliament he wrote: “The only way to guarantee the abolition of regional assemblies is to ensure that the Conservatives form the next government as they are the only main party committed to their abolition.”

And as the local government chief, Spelman played a key role in the party’s council election campaigns.

Crucially the chief of staff for the current Shadow Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles is paid by the party, which also pays the wages of the chiefs of staff for other senior Tories.

Parliamentary Standards Commissioner Sir John Lyon is already probing the “nannygate” allegations that former nanny Tina Haynes was paid £25,000 from Mrs Spelman’s staff allowance.