'Nannygate' MP cleared of sleaze

SENIOR Tory Caroline Spelman is set to keep her shadow cabinet job after a report into the "Nannygate" affair found her guilty only of inadvertent breaches of Commons rules.

Parliamentary Standards Commissioner John Lyon was mildly critical of her but concluded there were "grey areas" on current rules, sources said.

The MP claimed assistant Tina Haynes was paid with public funds for secretarial work between 1997 and 1998, and her nannying duties were rewarded separately.

But last year Ms Haynes said her official duties amounted only to posting letters, taking the "odd phone call" and passing on messages "once or twice a week".

David Cameron is not expected to reprimand her. She will remain as shadow communities secretary, insiders say.