Who is Khalid Mahmood and what has the Labour MP from Birmingham been accused of by Elaina Cohen?
Here's what you need to know about the latest scandal sweeping the Labour Party
LABOUR MP Khalid Mahmood reportedly spent thousands of pounds silencing a former aide who accused him of religious discrimination.
Here's what you need to know about the latest scandal sweeping the Labour Party.
Who is Khalid Mahmood?
Khalid Mahmood is a Labour frontbench MP for Birmingham Perry Barr since 2001.
He is also the shadow foreign minister for Europe.
In 2009, he was caught up in the MPs' expenses scandal he had claimed £1,350 to stay in a five star west London hotel with his girlfriend.
He was born in 1961 in Pakistan and is a graduate of UCE Birmingham.
What has he been accused of?
On August 27, it was claimed Mahmood reportedly spent tens of thousands of pounds silencing his Jewish parliamentary assistant after she accused him of religious discrimination.
He was taken to an employment tribunal by his assistant and former lover Elaina Cohen.
The case was settled out of court but Mr Mahmood's legal expenses were covered by the taxpayer-funded expenses system, according to .
Cohen signed a non-disclosure agreement as a condition of an out-of-court settlement, which bars both Mahmood and the former aide from discussing the matter publicly, it's reported.
He also reportedly claimed £37,000 to pay for extra staff, partly to cover while Ms Cohen was absent during the tribunal.
According to the paper, the case will raise concerns that Ipsa, the expenses watchdog, is allowing the expenses system to be used to fund controversial non-disclosure agreements.
Cohen told the Daily Telegraph: "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.
"We're in the middle of an anti-Semitism storm, and I had two years of hell over two tweets trying to bring it to the party's attention."
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.”
The pair were previously caught claiming for luxury hotel stays when they were lovers over ten years ago.
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.”
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