Douglas Hogg will not stand at the next election

Rob

Now for Morley, Mackay, Chaytor and Moran.

THX1138

Going to spend more time with his moat.

Forlornehope

More, more!

Vulture

Yes, Mackay, Maude and Duncan must go too - all the little piggies must follow Hoggie out of the sty.

Chris lancashire

Hogg by name, hogg by nature.

This anachronism is no loss to modern politics.

DM

Maude has to go.

Mike, Brighton

Yes guys but how about Hoon, Blears & Cooper/Balls? Don't forget these big fat piggies.

Chingford Man

Let's hope not all the sleazeballs fall on their swords. We need one of them to go head to head with, say, the fragrant Joanna and be beaten hollow.

teledu

Jacqui Smith? Hazel Blears?

Wily Trout

Was he de-moated?

ian skidmore

Martin piped " The Flowers of th Forest" on TV last night. It is a funeral march. Very apt, though bad piping etiquette. Should apply to the entire House. Noting less than a general election will do. MPs boast they kept within the rules, but they made them and the rules were dishonest. We must get rid of the Scotch Parliament.

GeoffH

I feels some sympathy for Hogg. His undoing was his complete openness in his letter to the Fees Office that explained everything, items that were allowable and items that he thought were not, to show the costs of the 'second home' were way above the maximum allowable claim.

Now, I agree he shouldn't have really been so green as to make mention of the moat cleaning but it was hardly outwith the normal maintenance rules.

Nevertheless his reaction that Cameron's scrutiny committee had been overtaken by events and didn't really apply put him beyond the pale.

Likewise, Michael Ancram.

And Today Anthony Steen seems to be suggesting that 'he made up his own rules because the Fees Office' wouldn't and perhaps he'll consider paying back 10%.

By Cameron's rules, its 100% or no whip.

So, he's next.

Liz Brown

ballsupcooper, millipedes, stasi smith, buffhoon, strawman, chipmunk, morely, chaytor, moron, keenes - the list is endless. General Election NOW......

Sophia Pangloss

If he (and hopefully many others) feels he cannot stand for re-election, then why does he think he has the authority to hang on until next year. His mandate just vanished, and his moat needs him now!

Denis Cooper

Why not go NOW?

The Chiltern Hundreds beckon, and they are delightful at this time of year.

Rush-is-Right

GeoffH, it seems to me the problem lies in his nomination of his country estate as his second home. He's done a Jaqui Smith. The second home, the one the taxpayer pays for, is supposed to be the one you had to buy in London in order to work in Westminster, not your country seat!

Denis Cooper

If I was Ancram - ie, wealthy - and I felt that my continued presence in the House of Commons would be to the benefit of the country as a whole, and especially to the benefit of the good folk of Devizes, then I'd said to Cameron:

"OK, David, stop whipping me if you like, and I'll try to bear that; but I still intend to offer myself as a parliamentary candidate at the next election."

And, who knows, maybe his constituents would consider that his peccadilloes were not so serious that they should disqualify him from continuing to serve as their elected representative, and they would vote him back in.

Who is this jumped-up tinpot party dictator, Cameron, who apparently we must worship as being all-knowing and all-wise, and accept as being all-powerful?

Surely he's just a young man of very limited, and not altogether useful, experience, who was somehow implanted as the Tory leader?

Or am I wrong? Is he the reincarnation of Alexander the Great, or some similar towering historical figure?

GeoffH

Rush.

No, the second home allowance is for the residence in which the MP spends the lesser amount of time. That may be the London home or the constituency home depending on individual circumstances.

There3 is no parallel with Jacqui Smith.

Her error was to claim a second home allowance while having the right to a grace-and-favour home coupled with the ignoble and 'cheap' act of claiming to doss down in her sister's home. A deliberate attempt to maximise financial benefit.

strapworld

I just could not believe what I was reading! Denis Cooper must be related to Tommy but has not got his humour.

Cameron a Tin Pot Dictator? The Reincarnation of Alexander the Great?

Ancram has had his fingers in the till. His moral compass is broken. People have lost respect for him and he, if he was a gentleman, should have resigned immediately! But he can count of the rather dubious support of this Denis Cooper! Sir, go and see the doctor you need help!

Percy

Denis Cooper, if only you'd married Griselda.

bobsheadrevisited

It's a moat point, really.

Denis Cooper

strapworld

How do you know how much respect Ancram has lost with the people who should matter most? That is, his constituents, those who sent him to Parliament as their elected representative. And you seem to forget that the idol Cameron has also been found to have feet of clay - £680 for removing wisteria etc - and whatever he may think, he is not morally qualified to act as judge, jury and summary executioner on anybody else.

Denis Cooper

You'll have to explain that obscure allusion, Percy.

David Lindsay

Douglas Hogg, an unmistakable Tory and duly anti-war, is banished from Parliament.

But the Henry Jackson Society's Michael Gove, David Willetts, Stephen Crabb, Michael Ancram, Chris Bryant, Denis MacShane and Ed Vaizey are not.

Funny, that.