Griffiths: Under pressure

Nigel Griffiths, the DTI minister for small business, is under mounting pressure to resign from the government.

The embattled Edinburgh South MP cancelled a planned ministerial visit to Madrid on Tuesday so that he can concentrate on attempting to clear his name and fight for his political career.

He held a meeting with his boss Patricia Hewitt on Monday night to discuss his future and the reaction of Downing Street to the row.

Griffiths, a close ally of chancellor Gordon Brown, is under investigation by the Commons standards watchdog after the Scottish National Party called on her to examine claims concerning the his office cost expenses.

Whilst Number 10 is refusing to comment on the specific allegations, many now predict that the minister will resign from the government within days.

Griffiths is reported to have received £40,000 in allowances to cover the cost of renting an office he already owns. The payments of £10,000 a year from the Westminster Fees Office are said to have begun in 1997.

He has also received £4000 from the Edinburgh South MSP Angus Mackay for sub-letting part of the constituency office and has never declared that income or his ownership of the office in the House of Commons register of interests.

The money is paid into a trust fund set up by the MP to help his older sister who is autistic. Griffiths says he is "confident" that he will be cleared of any wrongdoing.

"I have already written to the Fees Office on this matter and I am confident that the financial arrangements I have in place will be acceptable," he said. "I am seeking to get written confirmation of this as soon as possible."

The prime minister's official spokesman declined to comment on the specific allegations.

"It is an unusual and complicated situation and I think it is important that the facts are established before we make a comment," he said.

Pressed on the issue the spokesman said Blair had "full confidence in all his ministers".

Number 10 could not say whether Blair had spoken to Griffiths since the allegations surfaced.

The SNP's chief whip, Pete Wishart, called on the minister to resign.

"Nigel Griffiths has failed to register a financial interest, and is facing very serious questions over his use of Westminster allowances. He should submit his resignation as a government minister, and fully co-operate with the standards commissioner as she investigates these allegations into his conduct as an MP," he said.

The shadow Scottish secretary, Jacqui Lait, said Griffiths must resign if the allegations proved to be true.

"Why didn't he register his ownership of the property? Who was the rent paid to, him or the trust? Why was this income not declared? Has he declared the money in his tax returns? We need the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. If the allegations made in the media are substantiated, Nigel Griffiths will have no alternative but to tender his resignation," she said.