THE public does not want to see a disgraced former Bournemouth University chancellor return to the Lords, said a Dorset colleague.

Lord Taylor of Warwick is now out of prison – tagged and on licence – after getting a one-year sentence for an £11,000 expenses scam.

He was Bournemouth University’s chancellor from 2001 until November 2006 and committed the crimes from March 2006 to October 2007.

“Well, I have been punished,” he told a national paper yesterday.

“I’m sure there will be critics who will say: ‘How dare he show his face again?’ “But when there is a debate about prison reform most of them will be talking from theory, I’ll be talking from practice.”

However Lord Knight, the former Labour MP for South Dorset, said: “We have got some great experts in the criminal justice system.

“If you look at MPs who have been sent to prison for their expenses claims, they lost their careers and occupations.

“I think that’s what the public expect, however much remorse they might show.

“It only hastens the demand for reform of the House of Lords when you allow back people who have been to prison for fiddling the system.

“I regret the fact that my peers aren’t taking a tougher view.”

The House of Lords cannot permanently prevent Lord Taylor’s return. The conduct committee has recommended a one-year temporary ban from the date the former Conservative peer was sentenced, allowing his return on May 31.

Birmingham-born Lord Taylor was a barrister and public relations man who was picked as chancellor to provide “intellectual, moral and social inspiration” for Bournemouth University.