I'm hearing that as a first step, David Cameron will ask the Shadow Cabinet to voluntarily repay any expense which is against the spirit of the rules, even if it is within the actual rules. Clearly, that will be a matter for interpretation. More in a moment.
UPDATE: David Cameron has called a meeting of the Parliamentary Party for 2pm.
35 comments:
Iain, have you seen the comments made by Nick Clegg on his party's Euro's launch???
Truly a new disgusting low in British politics. He just smeared our party in the most horrendous way. Up there with McBride IMHO.
Apparently one of the operations he highlighted didn't even start in the EU, but instead in Australia!!!
This type of global cross border co-operation has been vital in the fight against paedophilia!
The mask well and truly slipped today.
As I've said here: This is an Open Goal for Cameron.
All of these "grandees" can easily afford to pay back this money, unlike the Labour "flat flippers", whose money is tied up in devalued property.
Cameron should make them pay it back, in full, very publicly.
As well as showing strong leadership, it gives him a perfect opportunity to point at the Labour benches and ask "why aren't they doing the same?".
.
"Ask"?
He should bend them over a desk and threaten to roger them senseless with a broomstick unless they pay back the money pronto.
Good. Where's Tosser Brown? Talk about the slowest ship in the convey. They get torpedoed.
It's probably as much as he can do at the moment, interesting to see what the lawyers said this morning though. I'm not too hot on how or what's needed for Cameron to de-select a MP. Where do you find out?
I think Cameron needs to crack down a lot harder though if he wants to regain some of the political ground that has been lost due to the Telegraphs printing of Tory expenses over the last two days. Interesting to see if Labour will go down this avenue, although after Brown gave his full support to the Speaker after yesterdays bizarre behaviour yesterday it's anybody's guess.
Obviously a welcome move but is it not the case that many people will see it as only happening because they have been caught?
If we ran the criminal justice system on that basis it would lead to anarchy. "Ah, Mr Smith, I see you defrauded the benefits system of £20k with a false disability claim. Paid it back have you? Very well, you're free to go. I'll make sure you continue to receive any benefits which you are legitimately claiming."
If you run the parliamentary system like that you'll end up with a similar result, only worse.
There's a Facebook group calling on MPs to give back expenses from their second homes so Barnardo's kids can have their first homes. If MPs pay back all their allowances from the last five years, it will generate twice as much as the last Children in Need.
Wonder if Prezza will be as quick to condemn his own sort as he was the "fat cats" in the City...
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=79695456732&ref=nf
but when will he call for the speaker to go?
This could be the making of David Cameron. He can show bold decisive leadership.
He also, as I blogged on www.trueblueblood.com, needs to deal directly with Norman Tebbit. Norman is a great great man but has overstepped the mark today, especially on radio 4 by calling for voters to vote for UKIP at the European Elections.
I also agree with ChrisD. Clegg today was a disgrace. He sees the chance for gold and votes at the European and County Council elections and smearing Conservatives. tragic. And very poor show.
When is the Daily telegraph going to focus on the Lib Dems....their time is coming.
I also hope the Telegraph publish the Ed Balls and Yvette Cooper story. Perhpas the DT are saving the best for last
Nothing short of a "Sir Alex" style hair drying talking to will do on this, if he wants to be seen as being a real leader in control of his party.
@Armchair - I do, yes.
However, I suppose that by doing this they will at least be the best of a bad bunch.
As long as its not just the shadow cabinet and includes backbenchers.
i doubt brown has the authortity within his own party to do the same.
i say goodluck and lets see what happens
The BBC also said that the Cabinet will support Michael Martin
Cameron: Right, we've all been caught stealing thousands from the taxpayer.
If we did this in Tescos, we'd be DNA'ed, fingerprinted and frogmarched off to prison.
Tory Party: I say, can't we just pay a little bit back? They're only "little people" after all. This champagne is awfully good isn't it...pass me the foi gras would you, so kind..
I want to see arrests. I want to see the look of terror on their faces. I want to see blubbering and blind panic.
If Cameron had an ounce of backbone, he'd hire a coach and take them all down to Charing Cross nick to hand themselves in.
Cameron seems to be doing the right thing where as the other party leaders seem to be sticking their heads in the sand.
Nobody wants some of the rotten and vile MP's we have in the current Parliament - I am reasured that Cameron is looking for any percieved claims that do not meet positively with scrutiny should be repaid.
Why not make them pay back double - once back to parliament, the second to an armed services charity? That would show genuine contrition.
ChrisD said
The Liberal Democrats always plumb the depths - they are a rotten party that is as corrupt as Westminister MP's expenses.
Clegg has failed to do anything about the Michael Brown donation, which was money fraudulently taken - stolen from people in a deception.
Clegg said the money was taken in 'good faith' - Hmmm, Don't some of the Dodgy MP's and Peers say the same? Besides the people who had their money stolen and given to the LD's, invested in Michael Brown in Good Faith.
Clegg should return that donation and do something about the sleaze in his party! Clegg = Yellow and no backbone!
“the MP’s signature verifies that the expenditure was wholly, exclusively and necessarily incurred in the performance of their duties”.
All Cameron has to do is apply that standard and forget the abject nodding through of expenses.
Could it be clearer?
How the hell does cleaning a moat or buying silk cushions or flipping improve the performance of duties?
And the grotesque food and communications allowances.
And Brown supports the Speaker after his grotesque uncouthness yesterday?
I hope Cameron is pitiless - and then he can turn his rage on this abject parody of a Prime Minister and government.
Although I am not a Tory (just an "Iain fan" from Politicos days) I think that the best possible outcome for the two political parties (I don't count the LibDems, they are a rabble, who will lie themselves stupid at every opportunity) is to pay MPs more, bringing them in line with other, probably more secure, professional occupations. This should enable them to pay for their own accommodation. Any expenses should be determined by an independent body with no political connection.
David Cameron is mistaken to believe that if MPs say sorry and repay their fiddled expenses it will be alright.
Cameron has pulled the carpet from under Brown's feet on this.
Well at least he's moving now. Pace is the essence - maybe even more important than the nature of action.
David Cameron has known for weeks that information like this was coming out. He should already have asked the Shadow Cabinet what skeletons would be revealed in their cupboards, and have a plan in place to deal with it.
Firstly they should be made to payback all the ill-gotten expenses, and then there should be donations to charities such as Shelter.
Once those donations are made they should never be referenced in a positive spin, and they should be viewed as a fitting financial punishment and not as a way of getting moral high ground.
Repaying only what you have stolen isn't punishment.
Watching the bbc news i'm less certain that backbenchers will be included.
How can hogg defend claiming 14.5k for a housekeeper ?
anything other than this will be a missed opportunity.
go for it dave show some backbone
and you will be congratulated from both tories and labour voters.
i wonder what browns response will be ?
On other news, its interesting that ministers are seeing Gordon Brown, demanding that Michael Martin be removed
Cameron's response so far is pathetic.
The pubic will see no difference between Margaret Moran paying back for dry rot and the swimming pool owners paying back for pool tuition.
A great chance to show authority feebly squandered. No chance now to chant "weak, weak, weak" at Brown, as his role model did at Major.
Sasha Mary,
MPs are not professionals. They require no qualifications. Their job is in great demand - think how many people stand for selection let alone election - so the pay and perks cannot be bad. MPs have a supremely secure job, only being able to be booted from the gravy train by their constituents. There is little true responsibility upon their shoulders and plenty of patsies should things go wrong. The have a wonderfully comfortable pension. A golden parachute payoff if the voters have the temerity to tell them to sling their hook and an army of civil servants and paid for assistants to help them with their duties. Which, frankly, a lot of MPs seem to have forgotten or wilfully abrogated. Why is the Commons mostly empty? Why are some committees badly attended?
We do not need to pay MPs more. We need better MPs keen to earn their money by protecting the interests of this nation and holding the Government to account. That is what they are there for!
We can go some way to achieving this through the transparency Michael Martin has fought, at our expense, to deny.
MPs expenses should rightly be reimbursed if things are genuinely needed. Much of what has been publicised, including the gross abuse that is claiming ACA while living in a grace a favour home, could not realistically be said to be neccessary and unavoidable. Flipping is done by choice. Submitting specious claims is done by choice.
These are people without honour.
He needs to go further. Withdraw the whip or ask them to stand down at the next election.
Cameron needs to come across as a tough bastard here. If he does, the Tories will get a huge boost, if he doesn't the BBC and left wing media will attack him and let the one eyed snot eater off the hook.
Given that Cameron has made c£300k with the interest free loan that we provided him with back in 2001 (property prices in Witney have doubled since then) perhaps he might want to pay that back to us as well. Of course Douglas Hogg could have stayed within the spirit of the law by remortgaging his ancestral pile in order to pay his moat cleaning expenses and he would have had an expenses claim similar to Camerons. But I suppose spirit of the rules means its not what you do but the way that you do it in the Tory lexicon
"no longer anonymous said...
"Ask"?
He should bend them over a desk and threaten to roger them senseless with a broomstick unless they pay back the money pronto.
May 12, 2009 12:00 PM"
That would only make the problem worse.
More dodgy claims = more broomstick rogering.
And you would need to keep a firm grip on the broomstick or it will be away too!!
It needn't be a matter of interpretation, Iain. David Cameron could appoint an accountant, say, and a Conservative one if he wanted, to go through and report fully on what in his or her view should be paid back.
Ideally the party leaders and all MPs should agree to a system like that, with an independent accountant making rulings on the same basis on all these claims regardless of party.
I think the person needs to take the approach of erring on the side of the taxpayer, rather than being too soft on MPs, though, if such an approach is to be credible.
"All shadow cabinet members who have had their expenses questioned will repay some of the money," Mr Cameron added.
"...some of the money?" No, no, no, Mr. Cameron. It just won't do. The public want ALL MPs who have abused the system to pay back every penny! And they want wholesale dismissals of shadow frontbench troughers. It really won't do, David. You have a golden opportunity to shine with the public. Have a bit of backbone, man!
Nick Clegg? Who that?
Clegg says Tories will sell your children to sex traffickers or something like that…
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