In 2003, under heavy pressure during the Hutton Inquiry, the BBC refused to show Crick's report for "Newsnight" into 'Betsygate'. These claims involved the alleged misuse of public funds by the private office of former Conservative Party leader Iain Duncan Smith and supposed payments to his wife Betsy for work she did not do. Crick had begun to investigate these claims in the Spring after a tip-off from a Conservative insider with knowledge of Duncan Smith's office. Crick referred the case to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards Sir Philip Mawer and the Duncan Smiths were largely cleared of any impropriety. Crick himself later said that he had been wrong to enter the "political arena" by referring the case to Mawer.