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Miller turns to local paper in failed bid to save job

Culture secretary Maria Miller dramatically quit this morning after turning to her local newspaper in a last-ditch attempt to save her Cabinet job.

Amid the growing furore after she wrongly claimed £45,800 in MPs expenses for a second home, Ms Miller used her weekly column in the Basingstoke Gazette to give her side of the story.

In her ‘How I See It’ column, the Basingstoke MP publicly apologised to the people in her constituency, saying: “I am devastated that this has happened, and that I have let you down.”

However the paper’s readers were unimpressed with more than 95pc of people who took part in a poll by the Newsquest-owned Gazette on Ms Miller’s future saying she should quit – and today she finally announced she was stepping down.

In a letter to the prime minister, she said the controversy “has become a distraction from the vital work this government is doing.”

Her decision means a new man or woman will now be charged with taking forward the government’s highly controversial plans to regulate the press.

The MP wrote in her column: “The last 16 months have been difficult. As you know, I have been working hard for Basingstoke and also doing my job as a Cabinet minister.

“During this time, I have been subject to an intense Parliamentary inquiry looking at extensive personal details of my family life, as a result of allegations made by a Labour MP.

“That committee has now published its report and I have accepted their findings in full. I have unreservedly apologised for the way I handled and approached the inquiry.

“Separately, I have already apologised and repaid an over-claim of my expenses, having myself drawn the committee’s attention to the matter immediately I was aware of it.

“I have always sought to do the best job that I can in representing the people of Basingstoke in Westminster.

“I am devastated that this has happened, and that I have let you down. I can only hope that over time the focus will once again by on Basingstoke.”

However there was further controversy when a ministerial aide to Ms Miller, Tory Mp Mary Macleod, claimed there was a “media witch-hunt” against her because of her role in implementing press regulation after the Leveson Inquiry.

Ms Miller’s special adviser Jo Hindley has already faced criticism for ‘flagging up’ to journalists writing about her expenses that she was also overseeing press regulation.

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  • April 9, 2014 at 10:29 am
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    Yeah, I’d be ‘devastated’ if I banked tens of thousands of pounds I wasn’t entitled to…probably while sitting in a prison cell. She should count herself lucky that Inspector Knacker isn’t yet rapping on her front door…of whichever house she finds herself sleeping in at 6am.

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  • April 9, 2014 at 10:42 am
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    “Tory MP Mary Macleod, claimed there was a “media witch-hunt” against her because of her role in implementing press regulation after the Leveson Inquiry”
    – Staggering hypocrisy here – they are still blaming the press despite their own behaviour – without a free press this story would not have seen the light of day.
    And the independent ctte which told Maria Miller to repay £45,000 has lay members on it who can’t vote, so what good is that? Anyway it was over-ruled by an un-accountable panel of MPs and reduced to under £6,000. So what is the point of the independent cttte if it can be over-ruled by a second panel of MPs? Who’s marking their own homework now then?
    As for the advisor who told the Telegraph reporter she whould not have doorstepped Miller’s parents – will she be applying the same criteria to double-glazing salesmen and other ‘doorsteppers’ many of whom are considerably more intrusive than this reporter was?
    I lost any support for Miller the day she sat down and cooked up the Royal Charter over pizza with Hacked Off.
    Hark, is that the sound of chickens I can hear coming home to roost…?

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  • April 9, 2014 at 8:05 pm
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    It’s a very brave man, or woman, who messes with the press.
    The Leveson debacle was instigated by thieving politicians. Let us never forget that.
    The press is the natural enemy of those with something to hide. Mrs Miller had something to hide and paid the price.
    Newspapers, in defence of their freedom, must now become even more vigilant than ever before in exposing dishonest MPs and peers.
    Remember, there are at least six convicted criminals sitting in the House of Lords. God knows how many unconvicted criminals there are sitting in both houses.
    All power to the press. It was Thomas Jefferson who said he’d rather be governed by newspapers than politicians. It was also Jefferson who said press freedom cannot be controlled without being lost.
    Press regulation needs to be ditched if Britain is to have any meaning in the world.

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