Billericay MP Teresa Gorman today said she was confident she would be cleared of any wrongdoing amid fresh allegations about her business affairs.

The controversial Tory MP spoke out after being invited to appear before the Commons' standards and privileges committee to answer claims she failed to declare her property interests.

Mrs Gorman said she was relaxed about the hearing and hit out at newspaper reports which claimed she had misled Parliament.

An investigation was launched in the summer following allegations in the Independent newspaper that Mrs Gorman sublet properties in London which had not been declared in the register of members' interests.

The paper went on to claim Mrs Gorman breached parliamentary rules in 1990 by not declaring her interests as a landlord when she tabled a Bill to abolish rent act protection.

She will be grilled by MPs on Tuesday morning and could be suspended from Parliament if the case is proven.

But Mrs Gorman said: "The article is nothing new. It is a rehash of an old story. I am perfectly relaxed and confident I will be vindicated.

"I am seeing the committee next week and until then anything I have to say must be said there."

It is the second time Mrs Gorman has been investigated by the committee.

Last summer she was forced to apologise to the House of Commons after failing to declare her own company on the list of members' interests.

She told MPs the omission was an "oversight" and that she had not intended to mislead the House.

The committee rebuked the MP for failing to declare her directorship and shareholding in Banta Ltd and management consultants Reamfield Ltd.

The claims round off a turbulent six months for the colourful MP. In November she announced she would quit as the member for Billericay at the next election.

But her ambitions to become the Mayor of London were thwarted after the party vetoed her application.

Mrs Gorman said she was now ready to take on new challenges after 12 years in the spotlight.

She said: "Ten years is plenty but 15 years is too much. There are many things in life I would still love to do."

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