Friday, May 29, 2009
Arden Forester
Conservative MP Bill Cash has said he does not intend to stand down over his expenses claims for rent on a "second home" owned by his daught...
Cash for Cash
Bill Cash is a decent bloke. He is well-versed in the crazed goings-on in the European Union and how they affect parliamentary sovereignty. It would be a sad day if he has to go. The whole culture of maximising allowances has affected the minds of MPs. Divorced from reality on occasions they have behaved more like boys in a public school being told the tuck shop is under new management and that far more will be on offer. It is certainly not like Gordon Brown's reference to a gentlemen's club, which would never allow such behaviour.Bill Cash reportedly claimed £15,000 on expenses to rent a London flat from his daughter - despite owning one which was closer to Parliament. David Cameron says he has "very serious questions to answer" about his expenses. That is true. However, it appears all that...
Goodbye to the Wintertons
It was surprising that Sir Nicholas Winterton and his wife Ann, both Conservative MPs, have obliged the leader and decided to spend more time their family. They could not "maintain the hectic pace" of political life, so have stepped down. Many will not mourn their passing. However, I think that all political parties that consider they are fit for government need a few mavericks on the backbenches. If the Conservative party is just going to be modernisers and model yes men, then it will be a poorer party for it.I've never had the opportunity to forget Sir Nicholas, as some years ago I met him on a by-election campaign. I do not remember who he...
Nadine Dorries knocks the nail home!
Nadine Dorries is a straight talking Tory MP. On her blog today she has a go at the journalists who knew all about the expenses business. It's all very true. Only this week, James Landale, BBC politics reporter, was talking as if he'd unearthed an Egyptian tomb. Must be the new haircut giving him ideas.Of course all and sundry knew. What I find disquieting is the hypocrisy in all this. Last night on BBC Question Time a man from the audience had the timerity to mention David Cameron's wisteria removal. William Hague, momentarily copying the Prime Minister's air gulping exercises, mumbled about Cameron paying the money back. It didn't look or sound like a convincing reply.Nadine says, " No Prime Minister has ever had the political courage to award MPs an appropriate level of pay commensurate...
Ducking and diving!
Just to put the facts straight, I suggested that Bill Wiggin had the duck pond expenses. It was actually Sir Peter Viggars. That's the trouble with reading "raw data" hot off the press! Still, both are in deep doodoo and Sir Peter has actually decided to stand down as a result of the Telegraph's exposure.It is interesting that the MPs standing down are the ones involved mainly in "gardening expenses" and the phantom mortgage merchants are standing firm. This scandal is not over yet, it see...
A wiggin' for Wiggin - and no ducking the issue!
Bill Wiggin must have felt he was getting a free run of the Tuck Shop. After all, the House of Commons has been likened to a public school. A kind of mutation formed by mixing the Greyfriars rascals with a bunch of miscreants from St.Trinians.What was he thinking? Another having claimed mortgage interest on a constituency home even though the house had never had a mortgage on it! And being a whip too. Maybe they should bring back the cane.But he really was pushing his luck by claiming £2,000 for a duck island. Did these ducks make any real contribution to his work as an MP?Any another MP, Gosport Conservative Sir Peter Viggers, claimed £20,000...
Douglas Hogg to stand down
Douglas Hogg, the Conservative MP who had a dirty moat, has announced his resignation. The Sleaford and North Hykeham MP has announced that he will stand down at the next election and apologised for the "collective and personal" failure over expens...
Speaker resigns
Speaker Martin resigned at 2.35 pm. In a short, sharp and not so sweet statement, he told the house of Commons he was to be gone by 21st June. Some sort of midsummer madness will descend on them then. His exact words were - "I have always felt that the House is at its best when it is united. In order that unity can be maintained, I have decided that I will relinquish the office of Speaker on Sunday 21 June. This will allow the House to proceed to elect a new Speaker on Monday 22 June." And with that he moved on to the next piece of busine...
Michael Martin to step down!
I was wrong in part. He didn't go yesterday as some believed he would. Or at least they thought he would announce his retirement date. However, pressure is mounting and it would appear that the Westminster kettle is at boiling point.At 2.30 this afternoon Michael Martin will announce he will be stepping down. It is understood he plans to step down "soon" rather than immediately. What that means is not clear, but perhaps it means he will step down before the summer recess.However, the effective removal of the Speaker does not in any way change the fact that MPs themselves were taking advantage of "the system". Scapegoat or not, there are plenty of feral creatures running around the Houses of Parliame...
That's Life! Margaret Moran
Margaret Moran, the Labour MP for Luton South, who went as far south as Southampton to talk tommy rot about dry rot, may be challenged at the next election by Esther Rantzen. "If the voters think it's worthwhile and they want me, here I am". Esther is obviously answering the call from Martin Bell that people rise up and stand as independents.The next election will act as a clearout rather like a spring cleaning excercise. Esther will probably not be the last to declare. More are waiting in the win...
Speaker Martin stands firm - it's the rules!
Just as I thought. A short message to MPs telling them that he is sorry if anything he has done has contributed to the mess. A couple of indications about Sir Christopher Kelly's committee and it was on to points of order. Douglas Carswell, the Conservative MP who is behind the no confidence motion, is hopping mad or hopping incredulous. Either way, he's stoking it up as I blog. It is not a happy House of Commons.Speaker Martin is saved by the rules. It's now up to the Government it seems, or Harriet Harman as Leader of the House, to decie what parliamentary time is given over to Carswell's motion. Whatever happens, it looks like Michael Martin will still be in the chair come Frid...
Michael Martin to tough it out
Much speculation is about at present, mainly suggesting that the Speaker of the House of Commons will be forced out. My senses are that he will stay, at least until the general election next year. He will tell the House this, that and the other, which will basically boil down to the fact that he stays and the members can bring it on if they want, but such action will look like they want a scapegoat rather than a solution. Tomorrow will amount to a lot of talking and nothing much else.Everything Michael Martin has done as Speaker is to confirm to the world that a sheet metalworker from Glasgow can hold his own amongst those perceived as being...
Andrew MacKay has "everything to fear"!
Andrew MacKay says he has nothing to fear. I think not. He is in deep doo-doo and should go quietly. He has let down the constituents of Bracknell by his cavalier approach to public money. Public money for a private purse. He may well be a very good constituency MP. Some may back him to the hilt. Others, though, are gunning for him and it is not just the usual suspects in the opposition parties. Conservative voters are lining up in the "ditch MacKay" camp.The local newspaper, known online as GetBracknell, is not out to get MacKay. But they are not pushing his cause as a continuing MP either. Their online poll is "Should Andrew MacKay step down...
Honour amongst thieves?
The Daily Telegraph has been assiduously sorting the million pieces of information relating to MPs' expenses. The revelations of wrongdoing, as perceived by that newspaper and now by the public in growing numbers, is causing a corrosive action on the fabric of British politics. It is driving a wedge between electors and elected.The Telegraph is not at fault for publishing the information. Nobody has suggested it is not in the public interest. Only the Speaker got uppity about the actual leak but appears to be quiet about the publication. It is now becoming fashionable to suggest that all MPs are on the take. This is patently absurd, as this abuse is limited to a minority.In calling them all thieves the public does a disservice to democracy. It is said that there is honour amongst thieves,...
A Malvern voter gets to see £24,000 in cash!
Sky News goes to Malvern with a caseload of cash. One voter gets to see it and is momentarily tempted. Watch it. Not so easy to be tempted aw...
Can Cameron clean up cleanly?
I referred to motes and beams and it is very difficult to see how the leaders of the three main parties can lead their naughty boys into the good corner. David Cameron says it is an abuse of public money and he will deal with it, but in what manner? In November 2006 he submitted a bill for £680 and this included costs for clearing wisteria and vines from a chimney, replacing outside lights and resealing his conservatory’s roof. The bill was passed without query by the fees office. But did the wisteria stop him functioning as an MP? No more than Douglas Hogg's weed-ridden moat! We don't want MPs to fall into a blame game, but any move to rectify the shoddy situation must be done with proportionality and fairness. Either all moral miscreants pay back money or they don't. This drip drip cheque...
Anymore Mr Morley?
Elliot Morley is in a bind. Not only is he among those whose receipts are all over the media, but he has actually done something wrong outside "the system". He was claiming for mortgage payments on an non-existent mortgage. Now I call that fraud. It has nothing to do with amnesia, or being bad a maths, or just being a busy man. It's just plain fraud. Mr.Morley claimed up to £16,000 and says it was all a terrible mistake. What I don't understand is whether Mr.Morley sat up nights doing his own expenses and is basically incompetent or if a member of his staff just carried on unwittingly not being told that the mortgage had been paid off! How many people who pay off a mortgage carry on paying for it? Answers on a postcard to Mr.Morl...
Political moats and beams
It seems unbelievable that those politicians caught up in this expenses scandal did not realise that they were giving themselves a political hornet's nest just waiting to go buzz the minute it was disturbed. It shows a singular lack of judgement, particularly as other individual cases had been blowing up on a regularly basis before this sorry saga happened. MPs were being "investigated" from many years back. In fact, part of the New Labour mantra in 1997 was that politics had become corrupted and sleazy. Sounds very hollow and hypocritical now.It seems that, as the country becomes more secular, more attached to personal enrichment at the expense of community benefit, the old ways melt away. Politicians should reflect on the New Testament teaching of motes and beams. They are now in no fit...
Hazel Blears waves goodbye to cheque
Hazel Blears sat calmy on the Government front bench at PMQ's looking like a very frightened chipmunk. She listened intently to Gordon Brown's replies to David Cameron. No condemnation of the cheque wavers, not much to worry the parliamentary party. The PM was putting his faith in yet more committees. Hazel lives to fight another day. Any verbal fisticuffs will be done behind closed doors.The Liberal Democrats are paying back en masse. The Tories are in similar vein. Hazel Blears is leading the way for the Labour repayment program...
Lord Foulkes gets edgy with Carrie Gracie
It could be said he picked on the wrong TV news reporter. Carrie Gracie knows a bit about the world, speaks Mandarin Chinese, and is quite a determined woman. The sort the BBC needs to hire if the truth will out. Lord Foulkes is still in there defending "the system". One wonders for how much longer it will take for the bag of pennies to dr...
