To be ashamed of our Sleazebag PM?

I don't know what prompted this thread to be revived. I do agree that he is not my friend, and so call him Mr Johnson. Out of respect to the office he held, even though he did not hold the office with any respect.

clearly Vicky!

I'm reliably anal about things that irritate me!

Despicable person.

still at it 😆

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-59336581

Former cabinet minister Sir Geoffrey Cox earned £54,400 for legal work that he carried out in August, the latest details on MPs' earnings show.

A treat in store for those of us who are not closet Tories. The Oberver will be publishing extracts from Jennifrr Arcuri's diaries from the time of their affair. In the newsflash I saw, not even an 'alleged' to be seen. Times are grim. This should be interesting.

Yes, I can recognise a closet Tory supporter a mile off! Because their ghastly views seep into other subjects....

@Ghoulette.No I am not really surprised.MN is full of closetted Tories.who in their right mind as a woman would openly support such an uncaring,selfish,sleazy bunch.

@Prattypitel are you really that surprised? I am certain a huge amount of people on here, as there are in day to day life, are Tory supporters. They are just quiet in public because they know it's shit and self serving, and they get told that on here so don't tend to post.

Members of Parliament are not employed in any legal sense of the word. MPs are elected to their position by the electorate after putting themselves up as a candidate IPSA website.

Except MPs aren't employees, are they. But my impression is that they treat the Conservative Party as an employer, a company, whose profits need to be maximised so the MPs - the preferential shareholders - can maximise the return on their "investment", in the form of lucrative side gigs and outrageous expense claims. Labour MPs usually (but not always) lack this corporate ruthlessness.

MPs are there to represent their constituents, not advance their own interests within a company like an employee.

Yet another grey area that needs clarifying.

As with any job, MPs do, of course, have to prove they have incurred the expenses they are claiming

Yes, of course.

Like Geoffrey Cox, the multi millionaire who claimed 94p for milk. And was refused.

Greed.
Pure greed a lot of them.

As for expenses being huge, the average MP receives around £157k in expenses, over £111k of which goes on staff costs. As with any job, MPs do, of course, have to prove they have incurred the expenses they are claiming.

No MP is paid enough to maintain a second home in London

Let's not focus on the £82K, their expenses are huge.

My MP is one of the ones named in the Independent for trousering rent on expenses for a London property, whilst being a probably multi millionaire and barely here where I live, as he has a massively huge estate on the other side of the country where he spends most of his time. (And he was reprimanded for this a decade ago and just carried on)
Is it any wonder we're cross?

The problem in Britain is, so so many people are politically illiterate.

Absolutely spot on. And that's government educational propaganda for you.

In other European countries, children learn linear global history. From the year dot. In great detail.

In the UK - as of the 2021 IGCSE exam - kids learn random cherry-picked topics from different centuries that fit with the Establishment agenda and show the UK in a good light, as in, "look how far we've come".

They are not given any understanding of the despicable British Empire or the corrupt political system and pointless parasitic monarchy.

I would love to be corrected by parents of GCSE Politics students.

The problem in Britain is, so so many people are politically illiterate.the best example is Brexit.Other countries look in total amazement at Britain, how people in Britain vote constantly to be poorer.

The problem really is our press, and am ongoing sense of bizarre British exceptionalism (probably still based on "we won the war"!).

In the vivid imaginations of the 43%, the world looks upon us with a mixture of envy and admiration, and tries to hatch bitter unsucessful plots against us. They've somehow missed the fact that we're a worldwide laughing stock!

But you are not selling your room to another guest whilst claiming expenses are you?

Lots of jobs require you to live in London - only being an MP pays you to live there tax free.

Hi @daimbarsatemydogsbone

MPs are also (effectively) required to live in their constituencies. Or they would be getting no end of flack if they refuse to do so!

Moaning about their entitlement to have their rent paid in London is really pretty pointless.

It really isn't.

But that's beside the point. So what if it is? I could afford to pay for the hotels I stay in when I'm away on business out of my own resources. But I'm buggered if I'm going to!

People keep saying how MN isn't representative of the UK. Why? It apparently gets 7 million unique users per month.

MN is 99.99% Pro-Remain so it doesn't represent that strand of opinion - just as one example.

No MP is paid enough to maintain a second home in London. Their job needs them to have one. Why should they provide it from their own resources?

The article I read said they lived in their London home. That was their first home. They were renting out the other one.

What is this obsession with MPs being paid so little? We never say this about any other profession - many many of which do get paid truly very little.

£80,000 plus expenses is a massive amount.

That's made me so angry Duncin.

So many people struggling. Benefits being cut. Whilst these greedy Tory pigs are using our taxes to further enrich themselves.

It's nauseating.