Dame Shirley faces criminal inquiry

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London Evening Standard
By Justin Davenport Crime Correspondent, Evening Standard
13 October 2004

Dame Shirley Porter is facing criminal investigation over the "homes for votes" scandal, the Evening Standard can reveal today.

A preliminary file on charges of perjury has been presented to the Crown Prosecution Service. The allegations centre on a claim Dame Shirley made, in a sworn affidavit, that she was only worth £300,000 when she was being pursued for millions by Westminster council.

Scotland Yard is examining advice from lawyers on taking the next step of launching a full investigation into the issue. The development comes only months after Tesco heiress Dame Shirley paid £12.3 million-to Westminster in what was described as a "final settlement" to end a 15-year legal wrangle.

Dame Shirley had refused to pay a surcharge of up to £42 million imposed on her after the notorious gerrymandering scandal of the Eighties, when she was Tory leader of the council. In 1994 she was found guilty of corruption by the District Auditor. It was found that her administration sold council homes in marginal wards to re s idents thought likely to vote Tory, while moving hundreds of homeless tenants into cockroach-infested and asbestos-ridden tower blocks in safe Labour areas.

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/londonnews/articles/14002396?source=Evening%20Standard

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1. So tough, even Thatcher called her scary

By Paul Waugh, Evening Standard Deputy Political Editor
13 October 2004

As a grocer's daughter, Shirley Porter could always claim a common bond with her political mentor, Margaret Thatcher.

The feisty, no-nonsense Westminster council leader shared the-then prime minister's approach to public life, giving a verbal handbagging to her officials and Labour opponents alike. Once, Mrs Thatcher was even heard to say of Dame Shirley: "Oh, she's really scary."

But her critics claim it was her very stubbornness that tipped over into the arrogance that ultimately led to her downfall.

Dame Shirley's hard edge emerged as she grew up in the shadow of her father, Jack Cohen. With the motto "pile 'em high, sell 'em cheap", he turned Tesco into a household name and generated the fortune his daughter would inherit.
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/londonnews/articles/14002529?source=Evening%20Standard