Author Archives: Stephen Tall

The Evening Standard yesterday named and shamed the 11 Labour and five Tory MPs representing constituencies in London, and all living within an hour’s commute of Westminster, who claim taxpayers’ money for a second home.

You can read the full story here, which identifies the 16 Labour/Tory MPs concerned. The Standard quotes James Allie, Lib Dem candidate for the London Assembly seat of Brent and Harrow:

“It is this kind of behaviour that gives politicians a bad name. The second home allowance is meant for MPs who live too far away to commute to Westminster. There is no conceivable reason why

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Lib Dem schools spokesman David Laws was busy last week leading the attack on Labour’s plans to confiscate 5% of school cash balances. Today Labour back-tracked on its plans, with schools minister Jim Knight confirming the Government would keep its hands off, and leave school balances untouched.

The BBC has the full story here.

David is widely quoted saying:

“This daft idea should never have seen the light of day. Headteachers and governors across the country were outraged about how the clawback was set to have a devastating impact on their school budgets and could even have led

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I can’t find it in myself to get overly excited by the annual publication of MPs’ allowances, detailing who spent what on rail fares and stationery. It is, of course, right both that the information should be collected, and right it should be published.

But there are two opposing ways of looking at the figures. Is an MP who spends least therefore ‘best value’ or are they not being assiduous enough in their job? Is an MP who spends most therefore ‘extravagant’, or are they simply ensuring the best quality of service to their constituents (and treating their staff decently)? It’s a moot point, and best left to their constituents to determine at election time.

It is also a given that MPs who represent those constituencies furthest from Westminster, and which are most sprawling, are more likely to rack up the highest travel allowances.

All of these caveats mean the figures should be treated with sceptical caution. Still, if you’re interested in finding out more about how much Lib Dem MPs spent and how they compare in their spending, read on…

85 years since he became the last Liberal Prime Minister, David Lloyd George today took his place in Parliament Square as Prince Charles unveiled an eight-foot statue, declaring: “In the course of a decade, beginning approximately a century ago, he established himself as one of the greatest social reformers and war leaders of the 20th Century.”

Acting Lib Dem leader Vince Cable paid his own tribute:

“This is a long-awaited tribute to a man who is generally regarded as the most radical social reformer to have led this country. Lloyd George created modern liberalism by marrying a belief in freedom

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Gold star for David Laws, Lib Dem shadow secretary of state for children and schools, for first spotting and highlighting Labour’s plans to confiscate 5% of school cash balances.

Here’s what The Guardian says this morning in its article, Lib Dems attack plans to reclaim schools’ cash:

… the Lib Dem schools spokesman, David Laws, who has led the campaign for the proposal to be scrapped, said: “The prime minister doesn’t seem to realise that almost two-thirds of existing school balances are already committed to buildings and other projects.

“This plan to tax prudent schools is daft and characteristic

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Leading political blogger Paul Linford has published an interesting list of what he considers to be the top 10 political misjudgements made by British politicians, defining ‘misjudgements’ as events which “arguably changed the course of history, and certainly adversely affected the careers of those who made them.”

Top of Paul’s list was:

1. Jim Callaghan not calling an autumn election, 1978

What happened: Prime Minister Callaghan ducks out of an autumn 1978 election after private polls show it might result in a hung Parliament. The ensuing Winter of Discontent puts paid to Labour’s credibility as a governing party and leads to 18

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The House of Commons public administration select committee will today grill Assistant Commissioner John Yates, the top cop whose 16-month “cash-for-honours” resulted in no charges – it was announced in July that no figures from Labour would face prosecution, and earlier this month that the Tories would escape the same fate. (The BBC report is here.)

Paul Rowen, Lib Dem MP for Rochdale, who sits on the committee alongside party colleague Jenny Willott (Cardiff Central), has spoken out about what he hopes to gain from the encounter:

There are plenty of questions that need to be answered. I want

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