Sir Peter Viggers who came to personify MP expenses scandal when he claimed £1,645 for his ornamental floating duck island has died aged 82
- The former Conservative Gosport MP resigned after claiming for a ‘duck island’
- It also emerged he had filed receipts for a further £30,000 in gardening costs
- Sir Peter Viggers, 82, died after being diagnosed with motor neurone disease
- His successor Conservative MP Caroline Dinenage paid tribute to his ‘passion’
A former Conservative MP, who resigned after filing an expenses claim for an ornamental ‘duck island’ revealed during the infamous ‘expenses scandal’, has died.
Sir Peter Viggers, former Tory MP for Gosport in Hampshire from 1974 until 2010, died on 19 March, aged 82, after being diagnosed with motor neurone disease.
News of his death has only just come to light.
The successor to his Gosport seat, Conservative MP Caroline Dinenage, paid tribute to Viggers’ ‘passion’ for his former constituency.
Sir Peter also served as a junior minister under Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s
Gosport-born Viggers was asked to step down by then party leader David Cameron after it was revealed he tried to claim £1,645 for a floating ‘duck island’ for his garden during the now infamous expenses row.
As the parliamentary expenses scandal unfolded, it also emerged Sir Peter had filed receipts for a further £30,000 in gardening costs.
He later said he was ‘ashamed and humiliated’ by the revelation.
The UK parliamentary ‘expenses scandal’ was a major political event that came to light in 2009.
It disclosed widespread misuses of allowances and expenses by MPs, which resulted in numerous resignations, dismissals and orders to repay money.
In some instances, members of both the House of Lords and the Commons were imprisoned.
It started from a 2008 Freedom of Information request which was challenged by the HoC – but a High Court ruling ordered their release and they were first published in The Daily Telegraph.
In addition to Sir Peter’s case, the expenses scandal saw MPs charging taxpayers for things like moat-clearings, a plasma screen TV, and abuses of second-home allowances.
The revelations also came in the wake of the 2008 financial crash when people were struggling financially.
As the scandal gained more publicity, it emerged several hundred MPs claimed £95.6million between them in expenses in 2008-09.
Among them, Sir Anthony Steen, Tory MP for Totnes, claimed £88,000 for the maintenance of his estate in Devon, including of some 500 trees.
Sir Anthony later attributed public outrage of this extravagance to ‘jealousy’.
Labour MP for Bury North David Chaytor was imprisoned for 18 months having claimed £18,000 in rent on a flat he owned.
While former Environment Minister Elliot Morley also saw the inside of a prison cell after demanding £32,000 in second home allowances for a mortgage he had already paid off.
Then there was Conservative MP Douglas Hogg who sought £2,115 for the clearing of his moat.
After he was asked to resign for filing a £1,645 receipt for a floating duck house, plus £30,000 in gardening fees, Sir Peter said publicly his ducks ‘never liked’ the island anyway.
It was later auctioned for £1,700, which was donated to Macmillan Cancer Support.
During his career, Sir Peter was also criticised by bereaved families of patients at Gosport War Memorial Hospital for not supporting them.
A 2018 report found patient’s lives had been cut short after being administered opiates between 1987 and 2001.
Sir Peter had questioned the amount of time and money spent on the major police investigation, which later found had caused the deaths of up to 656 people.
Speaking about his death, Ms Dinenage said she was ‘saddened’ to hear Sir Peter had lost his battle with motor neurone disease, adding: ‘My thoughts are with his family.’