Thursday, 31st January 2008

A failure of oversight

Peter Hoskin 12:07pm

Robert Winnett - the Telegraph journalist who first broke the Derek Conway scandal - is thankfully not retracting his claws just yet. His latest, essential post over at Three Line Whip attacks the Senior Salaries Review Body (SSRB) which audits MPs' pay and allowances:

"Earlier this month, the latest SSRB tome was published – an 83 page study costing well over £100,000 to complete. It concludes: “We take this opportunity to emphasis that we have received no direct evidence to suggest that there is currently abuse by MPs of the allowances system. We commend the clarity and rigour of the rules and guidance.”
Excellent – the general public can sleep safely knowing that this esteemed body is charged with ensuring we get a fair deal from MPs. The mind boggles as to how the SSRB was able to come to this conclusion at a time when the allegations about Conway were already in the public domain."

The SSRB's regulatory net clearly has massive holes in it - perfect for slipping through...

UPDATE: MPs have just approved a ten-day suspension from the Commons for Derek Conway.

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madasafish

January 31st, 2008 3:16pm Report this comment

You said "The mind boggles as to how the SSRB was able to come to this conclusion " Rubbish. Any suggestion that any department or person who audits Parliamentary affairs from outside is going to get any co-operation or assistance from MPs is of course delusional. MPs exempted themselves under FOI from publishing any details of expenses. That is a well known FACT. To then suggest that any cooperation will be forthcoming (essential to audit expenses for example) when MPs bitterly resented the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner , the FOI Act and any attempt to drag out of date systems more suited to the 17th century or the early 19th century - is just plain ludicrous. It's obvious to all but the self indulgent, the deluded or journalists who support the Establishment that MPs do as they please with expenses. But hey ho, since journalists depend on political handouts for news, to expect the journalists to reveal anything is like expecting pigs to fly. See Andrew Marr as an example.

Pete Hoskin

January 31st, 2008 4:44pm Report this comment

madasafish: Just to make clear, it's Robert Winnett who said "The mind boggles as to how the SSRB was able to come to this conclusion". And I think his mind was boggling because the Conway allegations "were already in the public domain" when the SSRB wrote that "we have received no direct evidence to suggest that there is currently abuse by MPs of the allowances system".

Trumpeter Lanfried

January 31st, 2008 7:52pm Report this comment

"No direct evidence" is not quite the same as "no evidence." Hearsay and circumstantial evidence may be compelling, even if not categorised as "direct".