Tag Archives: jacqui lait

Conservative MP Jacqui Lait loses libel hearing over expenses

By Mark Pack | Thu 25th March 2010 - 9:00 pm

The Evening Standard has won a significant victory in a High Court libel battle brought by a Conservative MP.

Jacqui Lait, MP for Beckenham, had sued over an article headlined “Women MPs will be put off by Kelly reforms”.

Mr Justice Eady today struck out elements of her claim and ordered her to pay £10,400 legal costs.

The November 2009 article correctly pointed out Ms Lait had claimed “large sums” to travel to her family home in Sussex even though her constituency home is only 11 miles from Westminster…

The judge said it was “unreal to suggest that readers of

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MPs expenses: the details that you’ve probably missed

By Mark Pack | Sat 7th November 2009 - 3:57 pm

The headline recommendations from Sir Christopher Kelley’s review of MPs’ expenses have been widely covered. Despite this coverage, there is a series of detailed proposals which have been largely overlooked – including one which may yet put the leaders of political parties on the spot over cases involving their own MPs which they thought they had dealt with.

You can read the full report here, but these are the details I have in mind:

Travel: “MPs should expect to be treated in the same way as their constituents in this regard, unless there are compelling reasons to the contrary. That …

Posted in Election law and Parliament | Also tagged christopher kelly, malcolm rifkind and mps expenses | 6 Comments

MPs expenses: some MPs still don’t get it

By Mark Pack | Sat 17th October 2009 - 11:16 am

If being brazenly out of touch with the public mood is your idea of being a top-notch MP, it’s time you started singing the praises of Ann Keen, Jacqui Lait and Harry Cohen. For as the Evening Standard reported yesterday:

Five London MPs are refusing to say if they are being asked to repay part of their Commons expenses.

They are Ann and Alan Keen, the couple dubbed Mr and Mrs Expenses, senior Tories Jacqui Lait and Richard Ottaway and Labour’s Harry Cohen…

Mrs Keen told the Standard to “get stuffed” when approached politely at the Commons.

Her husband Alan also declined to answer

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Posted in News | Also tagged ann keen, harry cohen and mps expenses | 3 Comments

What is it about London Conservatives and expenses?

By Mark Pack | Wed 1st April 2009 - 2:10 pm

London Conservative Assembly Member Brian Coleman’s huge expense claims are nearing the stuff of legend, hiss free travel card notwithstanding.* Even when the figures last year showed he had cut his taxi claims by a fifth, they still came in at over £8,000 in a year, compared with £685 on average for other London Assembly members.**

However, he is by no means alone when it comes to expense bills that, shall we say, don’t exactly leave the impression of someone taking care over taxpayers’ money.

Boris Johnson has a bit of form when it comes to