Penny Nurick, who was ajudged to have been unfairly dismissed by Devizes MP Claire Perry, is to donate her £1,296 award to charity.

Mrs Nurick, from Marden, near Devizes, was sacked by Mrs Perry as part-time constituency secretary because Mrs Perry did not consider she had the skills for the job.

But an industrial tribunal in Bristol found in Mrs Nurick’s favour saying she had not been consulted properly. Mrs Perry was told to pay her a basic award of £332.29 plus £664.59 compensation and £300 for loss of statutory rights.

Now Mrs Nurick has decided to give the money to Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research after the son of friends contracted leuk-aemia. Luke Ponsonby, 25, was about to join the RAF when he was diagnosed and Army wives Mrs Nurick, Marjie Pook and Diane Meggy – who were close friends of Mr Ponsonby’s parents while living in Germany – rallied round to raise money for the charity.

Their traditional afternoon tea party at St John’s parish room raised over £1,000 and now that figure will be more than doubled by Mrs Nurick’s donation.

Mrs Nurick was one of Mrs Perry’s seconders when she stood as the Conservative Party candidate for Devizes in 2010, and had worked in her office for two years.

She was dismissed on February 23 when Mrs Perry replaced her with another employee in the constituency office.