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David Laws' expenses

601 replies

longfingernailspaintedblue · 28/05/2010 22:41

I really thought he was the very best of the Lib Dems.

Given his fortune he obviously doesn't need the expenses, but hiding his landlord/partner from the authorities is unacceptable, even if it was to hide his sexuality.

I'm completely shellshocked.

OP posts:
noddyholder · 29/05/2010 23:18

I thought that he had claimed for the room only because he didn't want to declare his sexuality as even his family were in the dark about it.If he had been openly gay in his work life he could have claimed as a couple for the whole house/mortgage which would have been a lot more!

BenHer · 29/05/2010 23:27

"As far as I am aware, dogs have nothing to fear from David Laws. "

How do we know..he likes to keep his sexuality private?

claig · 29/05/2010 23:32

Paddy tells us that even he was unaware of Laws's sexuality, and yet there are reports that it was common knowledge around Westminster. I think the papers may reveal some of the truth over the next few weeks

BenHer · 29/05/2010 23:38

Another election please Nick.We've seen what your lot are made of now let's make a fair judgement!

claig · 29/05/2010 23:42

looks like Mr. Integrity is also Mr. Invisible or Mr. Inscrutable
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1282538/David-Laws-secretive-party-didnt-know-address.html

why all the secrecy?

BenHer · 29/05/2010 23:52

A house built on sand.Sadly the decline will be rapid.Danny Alexander? Come on let's be serious here.

TDiddy · 30/05/2010 08:25

I don't think that Labour should wish for an election too too soon. ConLib has some more hard work to do and Labour has some more rebuild to do. Give them a chance and give the public a chance to see them not walk on water.

TDiddy · 30/05/2010 12:26

I feel very sorry for David Laws.

Prolesworth · 30/05/2010 12:31

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TDiddy · 30/05/2010 12:38

It's on a personal/human level that he has my sympathy. Don't forget that when he was claiming there was different culture regarding expenses. Everyone was claiming all sorts and he was one of the more moderate claimers. He could have claimed more if he had structured it differently.

I don't like how we the press can tear people down without a fair hearing.

Prolesworth · 30/05/2010 12:46

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animula · 30/05/2010 13:06

Just to vent ....

My take on this is that the whole expenses thing is now an out-of-control monster. It was created by the press to counter attempts to curtail "press freedom" and now look at it ...

I think it has seriously put back a realistic discussion on parliamentary pay.

I think it has implicitly reinforced the intrusion into personal lives of politicians. I know the focus has been on expenses, but the whole mania of attention cannot but send messages that reinforce this idea that politicians cannot have any private flaws. I know that's complicated, and didn't start here, but ... that's my feeling.

I think both those two things have a bad, long-term, effect on women, for instance, entering politics. And a bad effect on the shape of parliamentary politics in general.

I'm no fan of the proposed cuts, or of the LibCon coalition, but I'm amazed that this has blown up to the extent it's led to DL's resignation.

Btw, TDiddy, are you on Twitter?

Cammelia · 30/05/2010 13:10

I've tried to look at this situation every which way. And nothing comes out of it except that DL knew exactly what he was doing when he set out to buy a home for his boyfriend at taxpayer's expense.

He obviously thought he was cleverer than the system. The failing of all criminals.

That's his political career down the pan.

Madsometimes · 30/05/2010 13:25

I feel very sorry for David Laws. His main error seems to be failing to fiddle his expenses correctly.

If he had designated the room he rented as his main residence, then he could have claimed £££ for his home in Somerset (remember Jacqui Smith claiming that the room she rented in her sister's house was her main residence, so she could make a lucrative second home claim on her large family house).

Why is he an honourable man? Well he has resigned for a start! New Labour MP's rarely had the integrity to do that. Peter Mandelson was a notable exception to the rule. Most of them seemed to go by the mantra "never apologise, never explain."

I feel so sorry for him that he felt he had to keep his sexuality a secret. I am sure that being raised as a Catholic had part of this. I am a Catholic, and I can see how hard it must be for gay people, whether they are lapsed or not. I am not gay, but I have been touched by the support that he has received from the gay community.

jodevizes · 30/05/2010 13:52

Hey the bum copped 40 big ones out of the public purse. He should be put in the stocks on Parliament Green as should all those other crooks who milked the system.

Jeeze we have to work our socks off just to keep our heads above the water, whilst these well paid rats stiff us for even more.

TDiddy · 30/05/2010 13:58

animula- I agree with your incisive post above. I am not a Twitterer. Do you recommend it? I am sulking that someone has stolen my MN identity on Twitter.

animula · 30/05/2010 14:08

Not so much hi-jack as interlude

TDiddy - It's interesting. I've only just started, so I'm not sure exactly how much I like it but you can speak v. quickly to people AND it's v. good for a sort of "news shower". There are only 140 characters in a "tweet" but people link to longer articles/groups and things.

Ime it is getting better as a find more sources/twitterers but finding those sources was initially quite tricky, and I'm still working on it.

Anyway, I'm trying to recruit, as you can see, because it is more fun as the number of twitterers increases.

I'm v. impressed by some folk, who are v. good at linking to interesting things and/or have wonderful skills at condensed communication.

Btw, i suspect we're in a minority opinion on this DL issue. Oh well.

animula · 30/05/2010 14:09

T. Diddy - yes, someone had mine! (On-line id.) I was surprised how peeved I was ...

vesela · 30/05/2010 14:13

TDiddy, definitely recommend Twitter - I only joined about a month ago. Before I started I didn't get it at all, but now I really like it.

jodevizes, do you think none of them should get second-home allowances or that they should be means-tested? You could make an argument that they should be, but I'd like to see large numbers of other MPs giving up their second home allowances without a change in the law.

Re. David Laws - whole point is that he wasn't milking the system. He could have milked it & profited, like many did, but he didn't.

vesela · 30/05/2010 14:22

best thing about Twitter that I didn't realise before I started - how searchable it is. You can follow everything that's being said about a particular thing. It complements FB and forums/blogs very well.

ilovemydogandMrObama · 30/05/2010 14:31

Does anyone else think it's a bit that his parents really didn't know he was gay? Not trying to lessen how difficult it may be, it reminds me of right before my uncle came out of the closet. He lived in a very gay part of San Francisco (Castro and Market for those in the know) and even my grandmother commented, 'isn't is great that xxx has so many gay friends...' . So when he finally did tell family, the response was, 'we already knew....'

Sorry, but the point isn't whether he could have milked the system and profited and didn't. He decided to falsely claim public money, and for that alone he's unfit to be in charge of public fiscal policy.

None of this would be in issue if he kept his private life private. He didn't need to claim at all, and no doubt he is regretting it now.

He isn't the worst as far as claiming expenses, and seems like a man with his heart in the right place. Just poor judgement which in itself isn't a crime...

MmeLindt · 30/05/2010 14:32

Just catching up on all this, I was too busy these past few day.

Can I say that this thread was fab for finding out what the whole thing was about, and I am in awe of Lenin's postings. To the point, accurate assessments of the issues.

And, yes. Twitter is great.

TDiddy · 30/05/2010 15:22

Animula- I am now a Twit: TDiddysNet

Prolesworth · 30/05/2010 15:33

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LeninGrad · 30/05/2010 17:16

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