MPs' expenses: now it's the Tories' turn...

[policywonk]

here

More to come - how long are the Telegraph going to string this one out, I wonder? Apparently they paid a six-figure sum for the leak so I guess they want to get their money's worth.

The Telegraph is reporting negatively on the Tories?

Well, of course. I was listening to the Today programme yesterday morning and they said they couldn't get any official Tory comment on it as it was apparently a live story and they wanted to wait, and I thought yeah, yeah...

Yes - they've done Labour, now they're moving on to the Tories

(Have a look at the link - I think you might like that site.)

Yes, quite TFM - there had to be a reason that Cameron wasn't making hay with the story!

They've all got their noses in the trough.
About time the public knew how much of our money is wasted on their lifestyles.

To be fair MrsMc, they're not all dishonest little shites.

See here for two examples of probity (again, Labour ones cos we haven't seen the data on the Tories yet).

In reality none of them are being 'dishonest'.
They can get away with all those claims so they do it.
I think they should be paid more and the claims sytem should be abolished.
That way if they need a new boiler they can buy one like the rest of us have to!

Yes, few of them break the rules. Can't help thinking that some of them are deliberately pushing the rules as far as they can be stretched, thought, while others have more decency.

I favour the Halls of Residence solution myself - give all those MPs with constituencies more than, say, 30 miles from Westminster a room in shared accomodation. Let them all write their names on their jars of instant coffee and sit around in their rollers together.

And one shower and loo on each floor - with broken locks and hair in the plughole.

Yes PW, was thinking the same myself.
THe second hme thing doesn't wash anymore.
There are a lot of people who have to work away form home all week to.
THey stay in hotels or digs and more often than not pay for it themselves.

at LGP

Hey, look! We're not crazy - they do it in the US: four senators/congressmen sharing a house!

Great link Policy

Am fairly sure Dolphin House across the street from HOC was purpose built for MPs? Not sure, but there were a lot of MPs who lived there.

The problem with MPs harping on and on about how what they did was OK because it was 'within the rules' shows how out of touch they are with the financial climate at the moment.

Isn't Barbara Fossett married to Ken Fossett a multi millionaire? So taxpayers money was spent on security for a millionaire. That's wrong on so many levels. If she needed security for her job, then of course this should be provided; if she was in a high risk job such as Home Secretary or Foreign Secretary then she should be entitled to whatever protection is needed, but for an MP to decide they need a security system in their home which she shares with her millionaire husband is wrong.

I did laugh at Keith Vaz saying that he kept a flat in Westminster for early meeting as it was just too far to travel in from Stanmore which is 'off junction 3 of the M1!'

Alternatively it's just at the end of the Jubilee line Mr Vaz! And no need to even change trains. And no official commons stuff ever starts until 10am so it's not like anyone expecting people in before the tubes start running is it?

Barbara Follett
Ken Follett

I think you're right about Dolphin House but I guess it's not big enough. We need a really massive tower block with locks on the outside

at Vaz trying to bamboozle us with talk of motorway junctions.

Oh FGS, this is lunacy. They DON'T NEED a place in London, they just don't. They can do what the rest of the world does when they need to be in London for meetings and don't happen to live there, and hop on a plane/train. And stay overnight in a hotel (with stern and fixed ceilings on the amount they can reclaim, just to stop the leeches from staying at the Ritz every night out of some deluded sense of entitlement).

GRRR

Isn't there an issue with HoC business finishing very late though? And you couldn't ask those whose constituencies are more than, say, 100 miles away to commute daily - it's not reasonable (and environmentally silly too).

Given this, a permanent place (strictly non-luxurious) probably works out cheaper than a hotel room - no? (Pure supposition on my part)

Yes it does finish late. This is why they can stay overnight at hotels. You'll know how often the House sits and the average attendance record of MPs. Betcha they ain't doing a lot of real work ...

Anyhow I have found the perfect place here for MPs to stay in Central London for only £24.50 a night.

LSE has a very reasonable rate for rooms outside term time

I am glad to see that some Tory shysters are finally being named & shamed - the Mirror has an A-Z & theirs are cliched but hilarious, including quarterly mole catching on a country estate, servicing the Aga & manure for the garden

PMSL at 'quarterly mole catching'

Some blithering idiot tried to claim £60 for a Remembrance Sunday wreath and then complained when the claim wasn't allowed

But you know - following on from Quattro's post - I don't think most MPs are workshy. I think most of them work pretty hard at a job that requires them to spend a lot of time away from their families.

Here we are - former Tory whip and Shadow Defence Minister

There are a lot of working class people who work hard, and who also spend time away from their families due to work (train drivers, transport people)

But they don't have a massive budget.

Oh yes, absolutely - the expenses stuff is indefensible. I don't think MPs' wages are indefensibly high though - around £60k is it? Pretty enormous salary, but then it's a pretty important job.