Lord Taylor faces six allegations of false accounting The trial of a former Conservative peer accused of making false expenses claims is set to resume.
Lord Taylor of Warwick faces charges relating to costs claimed for travel between a home in Oxford and the Houses of Parliament.
On Friday he said it had been a “quirk” of House of Lords which led him to list as his main residence a property at which he had never stayed.
The former barrister denies six charges of false accounting.
The 58-year-old, who has resigned the Conservative whip, said on Friday that he had listed his main residence as a home in Oxford, while he actually lived in London, following advice from colleagues.
It was commonplace for the wording of parliamentary guidelines not to be adhered to strictly, he told Southwark Crown Court.
Asked where he lived, Lord Taylor replied: “I physically lived in Ealing. It was the only place I physically lived in, yes.”
Mr Justice Saunders, the trial judge, then said: “Residing means physically living, doesn’t it, Lord Taylor?”
The peer said that in reality, the term “main residence” was more ambiguous.
He said: “There were difficulties, and I certainly wasn’t the only one.”
Lord Taylor said it was a “bone of contention” among peers in the House.
Judge Saunders continued: “There was ambiguity over it?”
He replied: “Yes. It was a quirk like many other things in the House of Lords.”
Lord Taylor, of Lynwood Road, Ealing, west London, faces six allegations of false accounting on various dates between March 2006 and October 2007.
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