Getting away with everything they can

Death or Tory

I give up - I just give up...

I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

It would be bad enough if the Minister concerned was at least particularly good at their job. But according to HM Treasury sources from her time there and using the 'Loo Seat' analogy, I'm not sure she would know the right way round to sit on one...

How much longer can this go on?

Mike Kingscott

This is absolutely effing outrageous!!! WHAT THE HELL? "It could be a matter of taste, but this counts as 'dilapidations' in my book!"
" - gah! Sack her! Sack anyone taking the mickey on this!

Tiberius

It's such a shame for poor Alex Salmond.

His various salaries plus his food allowance will never manage to keep his healthy appetite satisfied.

TGF UKIP

Tories probably have their turn in the sun on Monday, but is the Browngraph saving the best (Balls & Co) till the last or have Porter, Benedict and the gang managed to pull their mate's nuts out of the fire?

Verity

Kitty Ussher - did you manage to get the plumbing fixed "free" - meaning by the wealth creating sector? Do the loos flush? If so, I'll be right over to throw up.

James

The trouble is that all these MP's are going to be like wounded jackals from now on. Can you imagine the laws they can make over the course of the next year making the draconian laws passed thus far look benign?

The whole lot of them are likely to take a united stand against us (as if they haven't already) and make life even more unpleasant than they've managed to so far.

Pat

Edwin and Yvette thank you all for putting pressure on the Daily Telegraph to suspend all revelations about their creative accounting practices. Also they would like to say that anything they may have or might have done was totally within the rules.

Bexleyite

Kitty Ussher - "Working hard for Burnley and Padiham".

Working hard for herself more like.

mitch

Balls is being saved for the final blow!......has to be

colin

I'm beginning to think that some form of truth and reconciliation process will be required here.

On a serious note, as well as being a national, grade A embarrassment, this has the makings of a serious constitutional crisis.

golfwidow

And the only example Andrew Marr puts to Liam Fox is the Tory claim for poppy wreaths! Despicable though that particular claim is, it surely pales into insignificance in comparison with the likes of Blears and Usher.

Ray

Ah, Benefits Minister. Would she perchance have been the one who thought up that delightfully unambigious slogan "It's fraud: no IFs or BUTs!"?

G Adlam

And not a word of contrition from any of them. Its the system's fault. No.The system's successful operation is predicated on members acting honourably. They haven't. This truly the Rotten Parliament and should be dissolved.

Julianlzb87

Someone at the Observer has it in for Purnell.

They lead the story..
"Taxmen to probe MPs over profits from home sales." with a picture of Purnell but only at the very end of the article do they write that it is nothing to do with him. Nice.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/may/10/mps-expenses-jacqui-smith

Apologies to Dire Straits

Now look at them MPs, thats the way you do it,
You grace the sofas on GMTV.
That ain't workin' thats the way you do it,
Money for nothin' and digs for free.
Now that ain't workin', thats the way you do it,
Lemme tell ya them guys ain't dumb.
Maybe get a blister on your little finger,
Maybe get a blister on your bum.

We gotta install microwave ovens,
Custom kitchen deliveries,
We gotta move these refrigerators,
We gotta move these colour tvs.

Remember Tony, he’s now Middle East envoy,
Yeah buddy that's his own hair.
That phoney Tony got his own jet airplane,
That phoney Tony he’s a millionaire.

We gotta install microwave ovens,
Custom kitchens deliveries,
We gotta move these refrigerators,
We gotta move these colour tvs.

I shoulda' learned to play my constituency association,
I shoulda' learned to play them well.
Look at Hazel, she got it stickin' in the camera;
Man, that sure looks fun.

And him up there, whats that? European noises?
Swingin' around Strasbourg like a chimpanzee.
That ain't workin' that's the way you do it,
Get your money for nothin' get your digs for free.

We gotta install microwave ovens,
Custom kitchen deliveries,
We gotta move these refrigerators,
We gotta move these colour tvs.

Now that ain’t workin' that's the way you do it,
You grace the sofas on GMTV
That ain’t workin that's the way you do it,
Money for nothin' and your digs for free.
Money for nothin' and your digs for free.

TrevorsDen

Who is to say that Balls will be in the frame? As a husband and wife team the Balls' can claim DOUBLE ACA - isn't that enough expenses scam for anybody?

'Kittys' scam is a disgrace.

There should be several prosecutions for fraud.

Plus the people whop run the fees office should be disciplined moved and or sacked. But the people setting the lead have been Labours 2 Prime Ministers. Not to mention the Speaker. But its asking too much to expect him to go. Local party's of all flavours should start deselecting the guilty.

What an effing disgrace from this bunch of effing tossers. Pardon by French.

Burnham is on SKY now saying that the system is flawed. Well so what? Do MPs have to take advantage of the flaws.

Brown & co should not be allowed to get away with this. As Boulton says this means that Parliament cannot be trusted to manage itself never mind us.

There are now no longer 'honourable' members. This surely affect the current rules and conventions that 'honbourable'members do not lie. Ha! Big deal. The government are only surviving by telling one lie after another and daring someone to say so. Surely someone more important that little old me can stand up to the plate.

BTW as I understand it, not only are these claims fraudulent but there is 'free' money here. The expenses ae not taxed and are not spent out of taxed income.

David Ossitt

What are the useless police doing?

Surely many of these claims are fraudulent; why are charges not being made against the culprits?

We need a mass clear out with a summer of bi elections.

Enough is enough the first to go should be Jack Straw; Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain and Secretary of State for Justice, he who appoints our judges, he has demeaned his office.

Pat

Regarding the claim for poppy wreaths. Please ask members of the British Legion or indeed HM the Queen as to whether they 'personally' pay for the official wreaths they lay on behalf of the Glorious Dead. Of course they don't so this mock outrage at an MP who has to lay several wreaths is rather pathetic. Why should he pay for wreaths out of his own money?

Dorothy Wilson

And isn't Labour supposed to be the party that looks after the interests of ordinary working people?

bitter and twisted

trevorsden - I share your outrage. I think their claims are outrageous. For the sake of democracy Parliament will have to be dissolved and an election called straightaway. I hope the Queen is seriously considering what she might have to do this week. There will riots on the streets if justice is not done. At the least these MPs must be suspended, and by elections called. I want to see the Prime Minister and his cabinet account for themselves live on tv/radio in front of the harshest interviewers.
These MPs have no idea how furious people are. On that point alone they have lost all credibility.

Susan Hill

I have a friend who, until she retired last year, was a Health Visitor in a rural area. She had a lot of travelling to do and she said trying to get 28p a mile for using her car ONLY for work mileage was like trying to get the proverbial blood from a stone. The PCT insisted she pay half herself as it was her car. As if somehow the use of it for work gave it added value - a sort of capital gain ! She says even one lot of these fraudulent expenses claimed by MPs would have done her nicely to get about doing her job without having to subsidise the travel herself. And multiply her by a lot of others. Small wonder she took early retirement. She also said 'And to think, I voted for them once!'

DM

Just heard Lord Naseby talking a great deal of sense on World this weekend...one of the few who truly recognises the gravity of the problem. In short, says this is so serious that an election might well have to be brought on.

THX1138

Getting away with everything they can- Just like everyone else!

George Laird

Dear Tiberius

As an MP, Mr Salmond is entitled only to a third of his MSP’s salary, £18,461, which all goes to a trust. Mr Salmond decided to set up the trust using his MSP’s salary following controversy about his receiving two salaries.

I think this act by Alex Salmond speaks volumes about the man.

When Donald Dewar was First Minister of Scotland; he kept every penny of both his MP and MSP Salary.

The difference between Labour and the Scottish National Party is stark.

Stark!

Yours sincerely

George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

hadrian

And they have the audacity to refuse the Queen desperately needed funding to refurbish Buck House.
To the Tower with the lot of them!