Derek conway

[handlemecarefully]

Are there no threads on this?

what about him? and who is he?

He is a politician

Doesn't his son look appalling? I can't believe he is real. Even The Telegraph were merciless in their criticism of him.

His wife has changed bizarrely too from being pleasant looking 80s style young mum with a pageboy to heavy jawed fur coated matron. Really weird people.

Thats why i don't recognise him then.

He looks exactly like the sort of plump smug Tory MP you imagine 90% of them of to be (D Cameron will look like that too in 20 years)

His elder son is nauseating.

Here is the son

Conway was Labour in his twenties, unbelievably.

More about the son (and his friend ) here

I love it that the Mail is sticking the boot in with such gay (ahem) abandon.

Cf, see here - the Mail again, counting it all out for us, bless 'em

If MPs' researchers/assistants are paid out of public funds, I think they have a responsibility to appoint the best person for the job, and have proper regard to equal opportunities, rather than just appointing their relatives. It should be mandatory to publicly advertise such posts, and involve an objective and unbiased third party in the recruitment procedure if family members wish to apply for such posts.

Wanky hand-in-the-till MP, isn;t he? Mind you when it comes to bad politicians, the ones that are just after lining their own pockets do less damage than the nutters who think some god is talking to them.

It's a relief to see the Tories still have their snouts in the trough too... normal service is resumed.

Just saw an add about those who are reported for wrongly claiming single benefits claiments and how they will be prosecuted.

Why is Conway the crook not being treated in the same way? I guess there are not so many people involved in benefit fraud who manage to scoop £260,000 of taxpayer's money for their families!

I genuinely don't see the difference...

Had a huge row with dh last night (it should have been an intellectual disagreement, but fuelled by a whisky and coke I got quite cross with him). Dh felt that it was 'sufficient' that Conway had been fired, whereas I felt he should be prosecuted and go to trial.

Like you Upwind - I can't bear the double standards just because he's from the 'upper' echelons of society. It's a criminal act and he should be held properly accountable.

God Yes, the son is like some Harry Enfield character.

I worked at the Commons in the 90s - it is so so so common for MPs to employ family members - they are all at it. They should clean up their act.

There was a fantastic (IMO) piece on him in the Times by Alice Miles, here. I think she's spot on. My favourite bit:

"It had been, the MP pleaded, ?a very difficult period. The House will comprehend the impact that this matter has on me personally and also on my family...? Ah, poor me. ?I have let them down very badly indeed, and no judgment from any quarter could be more harsh than that which I apply to myself.?

No judgment could be more harsh? What about resignation? Prosecution? Jail? The man is unbelievable."

I've met him. He is a mealy-mouth slime ball.

He was very bombastic about the outgoing Labour administration in Bexley when the Conservatives won the local council elections.

The man is a mendacious, duplicitous, fraudulent scoundrel and I am aghast that stronger action has not been taken against him.

Good riddance!

You do know he has a daughter which he sent to some presitgious private school?

whom he sent...

I would, though, stop short at banning MPs from employing family members at all.

I could imagine that there might be all sorts of perfectly reasonable and sensible advantages for an MP to have a relative working for them. As long as the rules are adhered to - as appears not to have been the case with Conway - I see no need for a ban. It would only penalise the honest to get at the dishonest.

If taxpayers money is being abused I would be happier thinking that a single parent who had formed a new relationship was behind the benefit fraud, rather than the son of a wealthy MP, using it to show off how rich he is...

I don't necessarily see a need for a ban on relatives working for MPs but information on it should be in the open and everything seen to be above board. Awarding massive bonuses to a part time researcher who has never been seen in the office but-just-happens-to-be your own son is not on.

I wonder are other MPs not pressing for prosecution because they have their own dirty laundry?

Indeed, employing your DP or your offspring or your cousins is not in itself wrong (why should someone not get a job they can do well just because they are related to someone else in the industry). But letting your incompetent family stick their snouts in the trough to that extent is pretty disgusting (especially with all this Let's Hang Benefit Cheats stuff going on at the moment).

Localish MP. What a creep. I hope they charge him with fraud

Wasn't it 40,000 quid his son got whilst a student?
That is a well paid pt job. I wish I'd found one like that rather than working in a call centre...
He's only going to have to pay back something like 13 thou and has had the whip removed for 10 day... that's right, isn't it?
Well, it's "good" to see their priority is looking after their own. Politicians, that is.

I actually felt a little tinge of respect for Cameron when I heard he'd moved on it so quickly (even though I know it was just to show up Brown) but this is hardly much of a comeuppance, is it?

slimy fekker

I thought all publically funded jobs had to be advertised? - am i wrong. It's not just Derek Conway, labour and tories alike employing wives, family members etc. Nobody else would get away with this. Job would have to be advertised and then given to best qualified person. I am fuming at the hypocritical self-serving politicians trying to tell us what to do then milking the system themselves. The man should be prosecuted for fraud. Won't happen because they are all doing it.