Tory MP Chris Davies faces being booted out of Parliament after a recall petition was officially launched.
Mr Davies, 51, was fined £1,500 and ordered to carry out 50 hours’ community service after he admitted giving false information for his Westminster expenses.
He spared jail yesterday at Southwark Crown Court – and isn’t being thrown out of the Conservative Party, receiving only a “formal warning”.
But Speaker John Bercow confirmed a recall petition had been automatically triggered.
Introduced in 2015, the petitions are triggered against any MP convicted of providing false or misleading information for allowance claims – regardless of their type of sentence or whether they are jailed.
Constituents in Brecon and Radnorshire will have six weeks to sign the petition when it opens. If at least 10% back the petition it will trigger a full by-election.
(Image: PA)
It will only be the third ever if its kind after separate recall bids against MPs Ian Paisley Jr and Fiona Onasanya.
But unlike Onasanya – dropped by Labour after she was found guilty of perverting the course of justice – Davies was backed by his local party and remains a Conservative MP.
A No 10 spokesman said: “Obviously there has been a judgement and he has been issued with a formal warning from the chief whip.
“What is important now is that the voters of Brecon and Radnorshire have the chance to deliver their verdict on whether or not they still support him to be their Member of Parliament. That’s what will happen to next”.
Following his conviction, a Conservative Party spokesman said: “Chris Davies has been given a formal warning from the Chief Whip following today’s ruling.
“He has apologised and it is right that the people of Brecon and Radnorshire now get to have their say about whether they still support Mr. Davies.”
And Brecon and Radnorshire Conservatives said there was “no suggestion” he sought financial gain and “our Association fully support Chris through this difficult period”.
“He has paid heavily for this error,” the group wrote, and “the taxpayer bore not a penny of the cost of the error.”
Davies pleaded guilty to two charges last month.
The first charge was providing false or misleading information for allowances claims, contrary to section 10 of the Parliamentary Standards Act 2009.
In March 2016 he made a claim under the MPs’ allowances scheme and provided an invoice that he knew to be “false or misleading”, the court heard.
The second charge was attempting to provide false or misleading information for allowances claims, contrary to the act.
It related to an attempt in April 2016 to make a claim using an invoice “that he knew to be false or misleading”.
Two previous charges of forgery were dropped.
Westminster Magistrates’ Court heard how the two charges related to the period when Davies was setting up his constituency office following the 2015 general election.
He had contacted a photographer in his constituency and purchased nine images from him to decorate and display in his constituency office, using his own money to pay the £700 for them initially.
There were two budgets available to him, the Start Up Costs Budget – for office furniture and IT equipment – and the Office Costs Budget, both of which he could claim the full amount from.
But Philip Stott, prosecuting, revealed Mr Davies found in February 2016 that only £476.02 was left in the Start Up Costs Budget, with £8,303.75 remaining in the other.
He then proceeded to create two fake invoices, so the £700 cost could be split between the two budgets – £450 to the Start Up and £250 for the other.
District Judge Zani said: “The documents you created are troublesome in that they carried a deal of information that you put together which absolutely intended to deceive.”
Backbencher Davies swept to victory in the Welsh seat of Brecon and Radnorshire in 2015 by ousting Lib Dem MP Roger Williams, part of a bloodbath for the pro-EU party.
He increased his majority to 8,038 in the 2017 snap election.
Born in the Swansea Valley, the state-educated MP worked as an auctioneer and estate agent before becoming a Powys county councillor in 2012.
Defending, Thomas Forster QC said his client – a 51-year-old father of two school-age children – was in a “privileged position” as an MP, but that his offending was a mistake rather than a “return to the bad old days” of “maxing out expenses accounts”.
He said: “There is a very real likelihood that his political career is in tatters.
“This is a tragically disastrous set of circumstances to which I accept he is the author.
“It is not a financial cost, it is a harm to the integrity of Parliament.”
Speaking outside Southwark Crown Court, Mr Davies said: “I have accepted today’s ruling and want to take this opportunity to make an unreserved apology.
“I would like to reiterate that I made a mistake and at no point did I at any time try to make any financial gain.
“This has taken a very hard toll on my family, on my staff and on myself.
“I would now like to move on and continue my role of serving the people of Brecon and Radnorshire as their MP.”
