Tag Archives: mps expenses

Maria Miller, the Telegraph and Leveson: how statutory regulation begins & how the press is bringing it on itself

By Stephen Tall | Wed 12th December 2012 - 9:40 am

Now I’m more than a little sceptical about Leveson: I think he’s firing the wrong bullet (regulation backed by statute) at a target that’s moving out of range (the ‘dead tree press’). However, I’m also deeply sceptical about the press’s ability to report facts straight.

Which leaves me a bit conflicted at this morning’s report: The minister and a warning to the Telegraph before expenses story.

On the one hand, you have a clear signal of the danger of letting politicians anywhere near

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged Jo Swinson, joanna hindley, leveson inquiry and maria miller | 7 Comments

What did George Osborne agree to do that Nick Clegg refused to do?

By Stephen Tall | Thu 22nd November 2012 - 3:25 pm

(You can like and share this graphic via LibDemVoice’s Facebook page by clicking here.)

Compare and contrast:

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Posted in News | Also tagged featured, george osborne and nick clegg | 8 Comments

++ SHOCK! HORROR! LIB DEM MP CAUGHT UP IN NEW EXPENSES ROW!

By Stephen Tall | Fri 9th November 2012 - 3:05 pm

I’m deeply grateful to the Manchester Evening News and its reporter Deborah Linton for exposing Manchester MP John Leech’s shameless attempts to exploit the taxpayer by…

(brace yourselves for the shock)…

… offering coffee to staff working at his constituency office and members of the public visiting him.

With unbelievable extravagance, Mr Leech has splashed out on two £34.99 coffee makers from Aldi for his Didsbury office. As if that weren’t shameless enough, he also bought coffee beans to actually put into the actual coffee makers!

Then to …

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Posted in News | Also tagged deborah linton, didsbury, featured, john leech, manchester evening news and taxpayers alliance | 22 Comments

MPs and expenses: return to an unwelcome past

By Mark Pack | Thu 18th October 2012 - 1:15 pm

MPs are trying to block publication of material which could show they are renting their taxpayer-funded homes to each other, it is claimed.

Expenses watchdog The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) is considering an Freedom

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Posted in News | Also tagged featured and john bercow | 22 Comments

Danny Alexander: pay tax as I say not as I do?

By Stephen Tall | Sat 23rd June 2012 - 1:45 pm

Lib Dem chief secretary to the treasury Danny Alexander wrote a powerful article — Rich tax dodgers are as bad as dole cheats — for this week’s Sun newspaper. His condemnation of those, such as Jimmy Carr, who legally avoid paying their taxes couldn’t have been stronger:

… to most people it’s outrageous that a few of the very richest and their expensive financial advisers are devising ever more obscure and underhand ways of not paying their tax. When it comes to paying their fair share, some of the people

…

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Posted in News | Also tagged capital gains tax, Danny Alexander, jimmy carr, tax and tax avoidance | 31 Comments

“The pillars of the British establishment are tumbling” – Clegg

By Helen Duffett | Mon 11th July 2011 - 8:53 am

The Independent features an interview with Nick Clegg, given on Friday during his visit to Paris.

He speaks of “politicians falling to their knees ingratiating themselves with media moguls”, “too many vested interests tied up with each other” and “a culture of arrogance and impunity” as he lists the casualties of recent crises: journalism and hacking, MPs’ expenses, and banking.

Here’s an extract:

The deputy prime minister senses a rare opportunity in the hacking scandal to carve out a separate niche. The Liberal Democrats have never wooed or been wooed by the media moguls. Unlike David Cameron and Ed Miliband, Mr Clegg

…

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Posted in News | Also tagged nick clegg, Phone hacking and press complaints commission | 12 Comments

Do CCHQ staff have to bring their own toilet paper in to work?

By Mark Pack | Thu 2nd June 2011 - 8:34 pm

I only ask, you see, because earlier today the Conservative Party’s press team decided to highlight the fact that a Labour MP, Chuka Umunna, claimed £43.12 for “soap, toilet roll etc”.

Toilet paper Well, the claim was for his office where staff work. So quite why would someone want to pick on an employer providing toilet roll (and soap! yes, soap! the sheer luxury!) for his staff?

But perhaps that’s how CCHQ works and the staff there are so used to having to bring their own toilet paper …

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Posted in News | Also tagged chuka umunna and conservative party | 4 Comments

Former Conservative peer Lord Taylor sentenced to 12 months for expenses fraud

By Helen Duffett | Tue 31st May 2011 - 12:03 pm

From the BBC:

Ex-Tory peer Lord Taylor of Warwick has been jailed for 12 months for falsely claiming £11,277 in parliamentary expenses.

The 58-year-old claimed travel costs between his Oxford home and Westminster, as well as subsistence for staying in London.

He said he had made the false claims “in lieu of a salary”, and had been acting on the advice of colleagues.

Lord Taylor pleaded not guilty to the charges, but was convicted in January.

Read the full story at the BBC News website.

Posted in News | Also tagged lord taylor of warwick | 5 Comments

Statement from David Laws

By The Voice | Thu 12th May 2011 - 11:30 am

From a party news release:

David Laws, MP for Yeovil, today commented on the conclusion of the Inquiry by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, and the Standards and Privileges Committee.

The Inquiry identified a number of breaches of rules, in particular it found that Mr. Laws was in breach of the partner rule, and should have designated his constituency home as his main home from 2004/05, on the basis of the nights spent test.

However, the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards accepted that Mr. Laws’ motivation was privacy and not financial benefit, and both the Commissioner and the Committee accept that his claims would …

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Posted in News | Also tagged david laws, parliamentary commissioner for standards and standards and privileges committee | 63 Comments

Nick Clegg sells second home, returns profit to the taxpayer

By Helen Duffett | Tue 19th April 2011 - 2:53 pm

Nick Clegg has kept his promise made a year ago, to return any profit from the sale of his constituency home to the taxpayer.

Clegg told his local newspaper, the Sheffield Star, that he has now written a cheque to the House of Commons authorities for £38,750.

The Star reports:

Although he could have been allowed to keep the money under current rules, the Hallam MP and Lib Dem leader said he wanted to “lead by example” and that he hoped other MPs follow suit as they are forced to sell second homes and rent properties instead.

The new regulations come

…

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Posted in News | Also tagged nick clegg, sheffield hallam and sheffield star | 19 Comments

Nick Clegg’s delivery diary

By Helen Duffett | Sun 3rd April 2011 - 1:53 pm

Nick Clegg’s article in the Indy today is a spare, evidential piece, as neatly sliced and lacking in rhetoric as an appointment diary.

But what a diary. Flip back a year, and Gordon was driving to the Palace to call the General Election, as the Liberal Democrats prepared to launch their manifesto.

Now, Nick writes,

…something is happening that, for the Liberal Democrats, is a new experience: the policies we championed during the election are becoming reality. I don’t mean that consultations are being announced, votes held, or papers published. Over the next few days, lives will be changed for

…

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Posted in LibLink | Also tagged electoral reform, featured, general election manifesto, income tax, lib dem achievements, nick clegg, pupil premium and social mobility | 3 Comments

Dominic Carman selected as Liberal Democrat candidate for Barnsley Central by-election

By Helen Duffett | Sat 12th February 2011 - 4:37 pm

Barnsley Liberal Democrats today selected Dominic Carman as their candidate for the March 3 Barnsley Central Parliamentary by-election, at a hustings in the constituency.

Carman, son of the late George Carman QC, and biographer of BNP leader Nick Griffin, previously stood for the Lib Dems in Barking, East London at the 2010 General Election.

The by-election was caused by the resignation of the constituency’s MP, Eric Illsley, who has now been jailed for 12 months for fraudulently claiming more than £14,000 in Parliamentary expenses.

Commenting, Dominic …

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Posted in News, Parliamentary by-elections and Selection news | Also tagged barnsley central by-election, dominic carman and eric illsley | 22 Comments

Press Complaints Commission upholds MP’s complaint over expense reporting

By Mark Pack | Thu 3rd February 2011 - 1:55 pm

Here’s the main part of the ruling against the East Kilbride News:

The complaint was made by the MP for East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow, Michael McCann. The article related to his Parliamentary expenses, which had been published following the release of the figures by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA). Mr McCann argued that a claim made in the article – that his expenses “include £1150 in hotel bills to fund his trips to Westminster, while he also claims for a rented property in central London” – was misleading because it suggested that he had claimed for hotel rooms at

…

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Posted in News | Also tagged journalism, michael mccann and press complaints commission | 1 Comment

Eric Illsley MP pleads guilty to expenses fraud charges

By Helen Duffett | Tue 11th January 2011 - 11:52 am

From the BBC:

Former Labour MP Eric Illsley has admitted he fraudulently claimed more than £14,000 in parliamentary expenses.

He pleaded guilty to three false accounting charges over claims for council tax, maintenance, repairs and utility bills for his second home.

Illsley, appearing at Southwark Crown Court, previously denied all charges.

He was re-elected as Labour MP for Barnsley Central in May, but had the party whip withdrawn after being charged and now sits as an independent.

The hearing has been adjourned for four weeks, for a pre-sentence report. If Illsley receives a prison sentence of less than a year he may remain an MP, but if he is sentenced for longer, he will be disqualified from being an MP under the Representation of the People Act 1981.

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Posted in News | Also tagged barnsley central by-election, chris wiggin, david chaytor, eric illsley and oldham east and saddleworth | 35 Comments

Former MP jailed for expenses fraud

By Sara Bedford | Fri 7th January 2011 - 2:41 pm

Disgraced former MP David Chaytor was today jailed for 18 months, after admitting to three charges of false accounting on his expenses, totalling over £20,000. He had faced a maximum sentence of seven years imprisonment, but his guilty plea was taken into account.

The former Labour MP for Bury North had made claims for renting two properties which were owned by him and his mother, and for IT consultancy for which he was never charged. According to the Daily Telegraph, Chaytor had spread more than £91,100 of expenses claims across five different properties in five years, ‘flipping’ the designation of his second home six times.

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Posted in News | Also tagged david chaytor, elliot morley, eric illsley and jim devine | 29 Comments

Three former Labour MPs face criminal trial over expenses

By Helen Duffett | Wed 10th November 2010 - 10:26 am

The Supreme Court has ruled this morning that three former Labour MPs should face criminal trials over their expenses claims.

Elliot Morley, David Chaytor and Jim Devine, charged with theft by false accounting, had previously argued at the Court of Appeal that only Parliament could hear their case.

The three have now exhausted their challenge to an original ruling which rejected their claims to Parliamentary privilege, a 300-year-old immunity from legal proceedings arising from actions within Parliament; however the judge ruled in June that individual expense claims are “not covered by parliamentary privilege and… triable in Crown Court”.

From the

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Posted in News | Also tagged david chaytor, elliot morley and jim devine | 10 Comments

Nick Clegg won’t keep profits from second home sale

By Helen Duffett | Fri 3rd September 2010 - 4:08 pm

Nick Clegg has confirmed that he is selling his constituency home, and will return any profit to the taxpayer – as promised earlier this year.

From the Press Association:

The Lib Dem leader, who has been the MP for the constituency since 2005, has referred to the house in Sheffield as “modest” and revealed he had bought it in a “complete state of disrepair”.

Defending his expenses claims in respect of the house, he told the BBC’s Andrew Neil in April: “I think, unlike almost everybody else, I have said very clearly and very openly that my approach to this is

…

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Posted in News | Also tagged nick clegg | 8 Comments

Parliamentary privilege doesn’t protect against criminal trial

By Helen Duffett | Fri 30th July 2010 - 8:06 pm

Three former Labour MPs and a Conservative peer lost their appeals this morning, over last month’s ruling that they could not avoid trial for alleged expenses fraud by claiming Parliamentary privilege.

From the BBC:

Elliott Morley, David Chaytor, Jim Devine and Lord Hanningfield had argued at the Court of Appeal that only Parliament could hear their case.

The four all deny charges of false accounting over their expenses.

The charges carry a maximum sentence of seven years’ imprisonment.

The men had appealed against a ruling in June by Mr Justice Saunders sitting at Southwark Crown Court in central London.

The judge had rejected

…

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Posted in News and Parliament | Also tagged aptronyms, david chaytor, elliot morley, igor judge, jim devine and lord hanningfield | 4 Comments

Former Labour MP sues Sunday Telegraph over expenses story

By Mark Pack | Mon 21st June 2010 - 1:50 pm

The Press Gazette reports:

Former Labour backbench MP Frank Cook has filed a libel writ against the Sunday Telegraph over a front-page story from May 2009 about his expenses.

He is demanding damages of up to £50,000 from publishers Telegraph Media Group over a front page story and two inside pieces in May 2009 in the Sunday Telegraph.

The stories, which he claims were defamatory, were headed “MP claimed £5 for church collection” and “I’m sorry church claim was unfair.”

Cook, who represents Stockton North, is also suing over a comment headed: “Now it is the people’s turn to be heard.”

He says the articles

…

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Posted in News | Also tagged daily telegraph and frank cook | 3 Comments

Peer and 3 former MPs facing criminal trial

By Helen Duffett | Fri 11th June 2010 - 1:15 pm

A judge has ruled that three former Labour MPs and a Conservative peer may not avoid trial for expenses fraud, rejecting their claims to parliamentary privilege.

Parliamentary privilege is a 300-year-old immunity from legal proceedings arising from actions within Parliament; however the judge ruled that individual expense claims are “not covered by parliamentary privilege and… triable in Crown Court”.

From the BBC:

Mr Justice Saunders rejected arguments by Elliot Morley, David Chaytor, Jim Devine and Lord Hanningfield that only Parliament could hear their case.

There was no bar to a trial, he said.

The four, who all deny charges of false

…

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Posted in News | Also tagged david chaytor, elliot morley, jim devine and lord hanningfield | 7 Comments

Maybe Labour was right about Gene Hunt after all

By Iain Roberts | Wed 2nd June 2010 - 4:55 pm

Back near the beginning of the election campaign the parties had a bit of fun with a Gene Hunt election poster. Labour had Gene on his red Audi Quattro, warning us about a return to the ’80s. The Conservatives thought the reckless Hunt, who frequently bends and breaks the rules to get results and thumbs his nose at authority, was a rather positive model and put out their own version of the poster.

It seems Labour was nearer to the truth.

There are MPs – in all parties – who have exploited the expenses system to enrich themselves at the …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged david laws | 25 Comments

LibLink: Mark Pack – Why do we demand such high standards of politicians?

By NewsHound | Tue 1st June 2010 - 11:30 am

Over at The Independent, Lib Dem Voice Co-Editor Mark Pack takes a look at the Telegraph’s pursuit of David Laws and Danny Alexander.

On David, Mark notes:

… for me, the dividing line between reprimand and resignation in matters of personal financial affairs should be whether or not you have personally gained from a breach of the rules. … in this ironic situation where a politician gets into trouble for claiming less money than he could have done, I regret that he has decided to resign.

And on Danny, he writes:

It’s an odd form of morality to criticise someone for paying no

…

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Posted in LibLink | Also tagged daily telegraph, Danny Alexander, david laws and Mark Pack | 22 Comments

Innocent or guilty, there is no case for Laws to resign

By Iain Roberts | Sat 29th May 2010 - 6:35 pm

I’ve read, and listened to, a great deal of comment about David Laws today. Rumours are currently circulating that Laws has resigned from the Government. If so, I think it’s a great shame, a great injustice and a great disservice that’s been done to the British people.

Let’s take the absolute worst case scenario: that Laws knowingly broke the rules, saw himself and James Lundie as partners, chose not to admit it and took the money.

If that were the case – and Laws says it isn’t – the public purse will have been no worse off as a result …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged david laws | 68 Comments

David Laws issues statement on his expenses and sexuality

By Stephen Tall | Fri 28th May 2010 - 10:45 pm

David Laws has apologised, promised to pay back up to £40,000, and referred himself to the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner after the Telegraph published expenses claims showing he rented a room from his partner.

The paper’s story shows that David:

David claimed between £700 and £950 a month between 2004 and 2007 to sub-let a room in a flat in Kennington, south London, owned by his partner who was also registered as living at the property;
from 2007, David then began claiming of £920 a month to rent the second bedroom from a new house bought by his partner,

…

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Posted in News | Also tagged david laws | 221 Comments

Nadine Dorries: expense claims questioned in Sunday Times

By Mark Pack | Sun 9th May 2010 - 8:50 am

Welcome shortly to the new Parliament, where not everything has changed:

NADINE DORRIES, the Conservative MP, faces the first expenses complaint of the new parliament after a row about a £10,000 claim she paid to a friend’s company.

Her former Commons researcher, Peter Hand, is writing to John Lyon, the parliamentary commissioner for standards, questioning whether the claim can be justified.

The complaint will undermine hopes that the expenses controversy can be consigned to the last parliament.

Dorries, who last week retained her mid-Bedfordshire seat, claimed the money for an annual report in 2007 on her performance as an MP, and consultancy services, but

…

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Posted in News | Also tagged nadine dorries and peter hand | 3 Comments

Torygraph smears Clegg: is this the best the rightwing press can do?

By Stephen Tall | Wed 21st April 2010 - 11:35 pm

Tomorrow’s Daily Torygraph has the absolutely D-E-V-A-S-T-A-T-I-N-G story that before Nick Clegg became Lib Dem leader he received donations from donors which he declared in the MPs’ register of interests in order to pay a researcher on his staff. Shock, horror etc.

The story is here. It shows that three Lib Dem donors, Ian Wright, Neil Sherlock and Michael Young – all of them registered Lib Dem donors – paid £250 each per month directly into Nick’s personal bank account. The figures were contained in personal bank statements submitted by Nick to the House of Commons. It was officially declared …

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Posted in General Election and Op-eds | Also tagged daily telegraph and nick clegg | 46 Comments

Jo Swinson target of anonymous smear campaign

By Stephen Tall | Mon 12th April 2010 - 6:50 pm

This how today’s Sun reports the story:

A LIB-DEM MP has called in cops after an anonymous smear campaign was launched against her. Trouble-makers claiming to represent the East Dunbartonshire Taxpayers’ Alliance have sent letters to hundreds of voters across the region blackening the name of Jo Swinson, who is standing again on May 6. …

Ms Swinson said: “I’ve reported it to the police and they are investigating because the anonymous nature of this makes it illegal. It is clearly designed to damage my chances but I think a lot of people have seen through it.”

She saddedd : “This is

…

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Posted in General Election | Also tagged east dunbartonshire, james graham and Jo Swinson | Leave a comment

Margaret Moran makes £177,000 profit on tax-payer funded house

By Mark Pack | Sat 10th April 2010 - 5:20 pm

MPs’ expenses – the scandal that just keeps on giving:

MPs’ expenses: Margaret Moran sells taxpayer-funded Luton home for £177,000 profit

The MP for Luton South, who was suspended from the Parliamentary Labour Party over the expenses and lobbying scandals, bought the semi-detached property for £72,995.

She “flipped” her second home designation to the house for just one year but in that time used £22,341 of public money on it, which included the installation of a new central heating system and bathroom, a complete overhaul of the garden and the redecoration of several rooms…

Her three-bedroom house is now being sold for £250,000, making

…

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Posted in News | Also tagged andy strange, luton south, margaret moran and qurban hussain | Leave a comment

New MPs’ expenses rules published – the end of second homes and first class travel

By Helen Duffett | Mon 29th March 2010 - 3:04 pm

New rules published today by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority mean that MPs will no longer be able to profit from taxpayer-funded second homes, nor claim for gardening, cleaning or first-class travel.*

However, the scheme has stopped short of a ban on MPs employing family members. Instead, no more than one “connected party” (i.e. close family member, spouse, civil partner or cohabiting partner) may work for each MP, within approved salary and job description guidelines.

Professor Sir Ian Kennedy, Chair of the IPSA said,

No longer will MPs benefit from a slack allowances system. This system brings MPs’ expenses into line with those in most other areas of life. Expenses will be reimbursed only for legitimate costs, backed up by receipts.

There will be complete transparency, so that members of the public will see, in detail, expenses claimed by MPs. The rules will be backed up with tough new measures and abuse of the system will not be tolerated.

The new system is fair, workable and transparent. It will enable MPs to carry out the job we ask them to do and will provide reassurance and value for money to the tax-paying public.

Key components include:

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Posted in News and Parliament | Also tagged david heath, ian kennedy and independent parliamentary standards authority | 6 Comments

Conservative MP David Curry repays £28,000 in expenses

By Mark Pack | Sat 27th March 2010 - 6:50 pm

The Guardian had the story this week about the former chair of the House of Commons Standards and Privileges Committee (yes, the former chair of the House of Commons Standards and Privileges Committee):

Tory MP David Curry was today ordered to repay £28,000 and issue an apology after the Commons standards and privileges committee ruled that he had broken rules relating to parliamentary expenses.

The findings are particularly embarrassing because Curry was chairman of the committee until he stood down in November last year after he called for an investigation into the expenses allegations made against him.

He was ordered to repay £28,000

…

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Posted in News | Also tagged david curry, helen flynn and skipton and ripon | 1 Comment