Former Boris aide guilty of fraud

Former Boris Johnson aide Ian Clement was handed a 12-week suspended jail sentence and ordered to do 100 hours community service today after pleading guilty to fraudulently claiming for meals with his mistress.

He admitted three unauthorised expense claims totalling £156. He claimed £32.50 for lunch with the leader of Enfield Council, £72.50 for lunch with the leader of Barnet Council and £51.70 for dinner with the leader of Kensington and Chelsea Council, when each time he was entertaining a 23-year-old girl.

District Judge Quentin Purdy, sentencing, told Clement he had “fragrantly and arrogantly” abused public money. “You must have known full well when questioned in relation to these matters of the manifest bogusness of the claims you were making,” he added. “You knew very well what was required when using a corporate credit card and you saw yourself as somehow above the rules.”

Clement, 44, is also under investigation for his conduct while leader of Bexley Council, where he is alleged to have double-claimed for hotel stays in Cologne and Central London, and treated officials to £100 lunches – a scandal Left Foot Forward reported in August.