Wilful Misconduct—The House of Lords’ Decision in Porter v. Magill

Extract

The House of Lords has now ruled in favour of the Local Government Finance auditor in the well-known “homes for votes” saga involving Dame Shirley Porter and Mr. Weeks, leader and deputy leader of the Conservative Party of Westminster City Council: Porter v. Magill [2001] UKHL 67, [2002] 2 W.L.R. 37. It will be remembered that the auditor found Dame Shirley and Mr. Weeks jointly and severally by their wilful misconduct to have caused the Council to lose approximately £31 million, for which they were liable under the Local Government Finance Act 1982, s. 20. His decision was upheld by the Divisional Court but reversed by the Court of Appeal (Kennedy and Schiemann L.JJ., Robert Walker L.J. dissenting): [2000] 2 W.L.R. 1420. Two sets of issues arose for decision by the House of Lords: procedural issues relating to the conduct of the auditor’s enquiry (on which the leading speech was delivered by Lord Hope) and substantive issues relating to the findings of the auditor and the lower courts (dealt with by Lord Bingham). Three of these issues are of particular interest.