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Original poster

Derek conway

61 replies

handlemecarefully · 31/01/2008 23:11

Are there no threads on this?

OP posts:
spokette · 04/02/2008 11:28

It's funny isn't it? Somebody who is claiming benefits will be hauled to court like a common criminal if they work a couple of hours for a few pounds. A politician who deliberately fleeces the tax payer is told to pay it back, receives a slap on the wrist and still continues to draw a salary until he steps down.

And who said that we live in a fair and equal society?

Upwind · 04/02/2008 11:39

Spokette, that should be:

A politician who deliberately fleeces the tax payer is told to pay it A TOKEN AMOUNT back, receives a slap on the wrist and still continues to draw a salary until he steps down.

spokette · 04/02/2008 13:19

Yes, my mistake.

Kevlarhead · 04/02/2008 19:26

Came across this in the Sunday Herald. Pretty much sums it up for.

Derek Conway is theving lying scum, and the sooner he is is jailed for embezzlement the better. And is wife and sons can be done for being accesories, and failure to inform police or whatever.

'-----
Poor people steal, but the rich practise creative accountancy
By Tom Shields

A TORY MP is caught paying £82,000 from public funds in wages to his Hooray Henry sons; money for which they had done little or no work. The MP is suspended for 10 days on full pay. He is ordered to repay £13,000, leaving a nice little profit of £69,000 from this creative accountancy.

But he did say sorry to the House of Commons. He said: "The committee the committee on standards and privileges; that's as in many privileges and few standards was entitled to reach the conclusions that it did and I have accepted its criticisms in full. I unreservedly apologise to the House for my administrative shortcomings and the misjudgements I made."

The MP will be allowed to sit out the remaining time (potentially until May 2010) of this parliament, receiving £120,000 in wages and God knows how much extra in expenses.

Meanwhile, not so long ago, a Glasgow single mother appeared at Glasgow Sheriff Court after claiming £18,000 in housing benefits to which she was not entitled. She admitted making the false applications after her husband left her. She used the money to pay her mortgage so that she would not have to leave the area and move her autistic son from his special-needs school.

She was jailed for a year. Sheriff Charles McFarlane QC opined: "This is a serious matter which resulted in collecting a significant amount of money for a considerable time. A custodial sentence is the only one for what was a blatant crime on your part." The woman collapsed as she was led down to the cells.

The two cases are similar in that the parents indulged in administrative shortcomings for the sake of their children. Derek Conway MP did so to fund a champagne lifestyle for his sons Freddie and Henry. The woman, who shall remain nameless since she has suffered enough, took the money to make life a little more bearable for her son. In neither case did the punishment fit the crime.

varicoseveined · 04/02/2008 21:22

kevlarhead - oh my goodness that is just appalling! If there was ever a case that needed leniency it was for that mum

Same old, same old. One law for the rich, another for the poor

spokette · 05/02/2008 08:14

Kevlarhead

That article sums up the hyprocrisy and social injustice that reigns supreme in this fair isle of ours.

ElenyaTuesday · 05/02/2008 08:29

Kevlarhead, that article sums it up so well.

Honestly can nothing be done to get rid of Conway now? It's disgusting that he can hang around collecting more of our money for the next 2 years.

marina · 05/02/2008 14:51

Elenya, word is that he is being pushed to going now and there will be a by-election. Let's hope so.

tiredemma · 05/02/2008 14:57

The whole family are a load of ponces.

Its disgusting, but nothing surprises me with MP's.

marina · 05/02/2008 15:00

I agree tiredemma
He is going to regret that Christmas card photo for the rest of his life
Apparently he is loathed in Westminster
He was the one kicking up a fuss about Iain Duncan Smith's employment of his wife Betsy. The fuss that led to the demise of IDS as Leader of the Tories (not that I care about that much but what a hypocrite Conway is)

ElenyaTuesday · 05/02/2008 15:08

I read that when he arrived at Westminster the first thing he asked about was expenses!

Marina, I hope he does go now - and by now, I mean now!

tiredemma · 05/02/2008 15:11

I cant look at his son without laughing. Who on earth does he think he is? Poncing around.

Makes me so angry to think that Taxpayers money funding this mans children through Uni, while thousands of student struggle daily to further their education.

Hope he does get booted out.

ArmadilloDaMan · 05/02/2008 15:26

kevlarhead that is awful.

Conway should lose his job immediately and pay back all the money. MAybe a prison sentance as well.

Disgusting behaviour (though I doubt he's the only one at it).

A lot of MPs I think have let power go to their head. They are supposed to be there to represent their constituents, we are paying them to work for us, yet they seem to take a lot of money, and not be held accountable for anything they do wrong.

It sucks.

No wonder voter turnout is so low. Politicians are viewed as scum by many. How depressing.

Freckle · 05/02/2008 15:40

He legitimately employed his wife as his secretary at over £290,000 p.a. Where else will a secretary earn that sort of money?? Is there no universal pay scale for secretaries in the House of Commons? Can MPs decide for themselves how much to pay their secretaries?

Original poster
handlemecarefully · 05/02/2008 20:57

Jeez £290,000 pa for a bit of filing and arranging meetings might entice even me back to work

OP posts:
WendyWeber · 05/02/2008 21:05

£290,000 pa???

Did you slip an extra zero in there, Freckle?

Freckle · 05/02/2008 21:56

No, unfortunately. Her actual salary was £291,615.45.

marina · 05/02/2008 21:57

Mrs Conway or Mrs Duncan Smith? either way

tiredemma · 05/02/2008 21:59

Are you serious?

She earned nearly 300k for typing letters for her poncing husband.

That is outrageous.

Im actually flabbergasted.

Freckle · 05/02/2008 22:00

Mrs. Conway. It was in the DM article linked below - which may mean it's a load of made-up garbage or, more likely, they got the figures from the HoC accounts.

marina · 05/02/2008 22:01

She did have to shag him though tiredemma
Free the Sidcup One from a life of hideous sexual enslavement and overpaid typing

tiredemma · 05/02/2008 22:03

I suppose that there is no limit on what funds you would expect to recieve after rutting with that fat, pompous twat.

300k seems small change when you put it like that Marina.

marina · 05/02/2008 22:13

Have to say she doesn't look too bovvered about her miserable enslavement on the Christmas card.
All fur coat and no knickers, maybe...

tiredemma · 05/02/2008 22:14

where is this christmas card that everyone keeps mentioning.
Im intrigued..

marina · 05/02/2008 22:22

It's the photo of them all posing smugly outside the HoC
Only the daughter looks even slightly abashed
Mrs Conway, the world's most expensive typist, is wearing a fur coat
Queen Sloane is smirking louchely