A FORMER chancellor of Bournemouth University has denied dishonestly claiming more than £24,300 in parliamentary expenses.

Tory peer Lord Taylor of Warwick, 58, appeared at Southwark Crown Court, in central London, but was not required to plead from the dock.

Standing at the back of the courtroom, he pleaded not guilty to six counts of false accounting relating to his second home.

The charges allege that he dishonestly submitted claims for overnight subsistence and car mileage, stating his main home was outside London when he lived in the capital.

Lord Taylor, a former barrister who unsuccessfully attempted to become the Conservative party’s first black MP in 1992, held the ceremonial chancellor’s post at Bournemouth University from 2001-06.