THE CONSERVATIVE party chairman has said that Maria Miller “was becoming the story” and preventing coverage of other news when asked about her resignation.

Grant Shapps, Conservative MP for Welwyn Hatfield, said in an interview with the BBC: “In the end, as she has recognised herself, she has become the story. It is for the committee to judge and they said she should pay back £5,800 and apologise for the way that the information was provided.”

But Mr Shapps refused himself to publicly state that the Basingstoke MP had done something wrong, adding: “I think it is clear she did something wrong in the court of public opinion."