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Tory MP admits playing Candy Crush during committee
Conservative MP Nigel Mills has been caught playing popular mobile puzzle game Candy Crush Saga game during a Commons committee hearing. Pictures were published in the Sun newspaper of the MP playing Candy Crush Saga on his tablet during a Work and Pensions Committee session on pensions. Mr Mills, a member of the committee, was said to have played it over a period of two and half hours. He admitted he "probably had a game or two" but said he was "fully engaged". The committee was taking evidence on pension reforms from representatives of the pensions and insurance industries ahead of the Autumn Statement. Mr Mills, MP for Amber Valley, told the Sun: "There was a bit of the meeting that I wasn't focusing on and I probably had a game or two. "I shouldn't do it but if you check the meeting I would say I was fully engaged in asking questions that I thought were particularly important in how we get the pensions issue right. I shall try not to do it in the future."
Classics degree
The House of Commons authorities have now launched an investigation because the photographs in The Sun of Mr Mills playing Candy Crush were a breach of parliamentary rules. A Commons spokesman said the Serjeant at Arms' probe could lead to the person who took them being banned from the Houses of Parliament. Candy Crush was the top downloaded free mobile app of 2013. Users must swipe the screen to match grids of brightly coloured sweets to score points and pass different levels. While it is a free to download users can pay extra for more moves to improve their score. Mr Mills, 40, was first elected as an MP 2010 and was a borough councillor before that. He has a classics degree from the University of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne and is a qualified chartered accountant, working as a tax adviser before entering parliament. His political interests include employment, crime, anti-social behaviour, education and taxation.
