Wednesday, May 13, 2009

How To Resign...

From the Australian News Service...
A JAPANESE junior minister has resigned after a magazine reported that he had used a free train pass issued to lawmakers for a trip to meet his mistress, the government's top spokesman said.

I wonder what he'd have done if he had diddled the taxpayer out of £41,000...

26 comments:

Trend Shed said...

£41,000 - that is a lot of train trips.....

.... luckily 'both' claiming the money on expenses and paying it back were the "right thing to do".

Anonymous said...

How many MPs would be left if British members of parliament decided to follow this code of conduct. We would need a revolving door installed.
Nope can't see it happening, very few MPs have that amount of honour left.

Simon Harley said...

Which is the more morally reprehensible? Taking advantage of a perk or having a mistress?

Stepney said...

A similar tale from this country when "honourable" meant just that:

Thomas Isaac Mardy Jones was a miner who rose up the ranks of the Labour Party to become Member of Parliament for Pontypridd in 1922.In December 1930 Jones gave his wife and 12-year-old daughter a pair of Commons rail vouchers, which they were caught using. Jones was taken to court and fined, resigned from his seat, never entering politics again.

I wonder what this true socialist would have made of Vaz's silk cushions, Prescott's gable ends and Beckett's hanging baskets?

strapworld said...

Iain, Obviously you have read too much on lawnmowers and the rest, surely your line should be 'lawmakers' not 'lawnmakers'!! good joke though!

strapworld said...

Iain, It is my new specs. many apologies! jokes on me!

Anonymous said...

Pay it back and resign. That's the norm if you did this in a company you worked for! They're polticians working for the people and the people want the exploiters of the system to GO.

Give me strength! I'm leaning more towards BNP every day.

Alex said...

This is how to resign. Wait till the end.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/r/reading/8047177.stm

The irony is that unlike Gordon Brown, Steve Coppell has a degree in economics.

Plenty said...

How about some light relief in a political joke? This joke sums it all up...

http://www.plenty2say.com

Mark Hendy said...

Wasn't it for similar reasons that Blunket resigned? His troughing looks quite moderate now against the revelations we're now seeing. Parliament should be dissolved and new elections held. It's the only way to retain any shred of respect for the political system.

Unsworth said...

@ Mark Hendy

No, Blunkett was 'resigned'. He, of course, negotiated pretty favourable terms before 'offering' his resignation.

VotR said...

No British MP will resign. After this mess dies down the fleecing can begin again, even with new checks (cheques, haha) in place.

Why give up such a good thing by resigning?

Shop a benefit cheat clearly doesn't apply to the powers that be.

Desperate Dan said...

If he was truly honourable he'd have committed hari kari.

Malthus said...

How can we get the Speaker to resign?

Anonymous said...

To add to the merriment, Lembit Opik has just made a total Hoon of himself on 5 Live.

ukipwebmaster said...

The Fourth is with us!

http://www.ukip.org/content/latest-news/1026-the-force-is-with-usdarth-backs-ukip

Anonymous said...

Damn just missed the Lembit Opik interview on 5 live, any idea where to hear it again?

Anonymous said...

Blunkett didn't resign for the train pass.
And even after he resigned he kept his grace and favour apartment.

Anonymous said...

This is what the member for Corby has to say:

'We feel very badly hurt by what has happened and although I kept to the rules laid down by Parliament I cannot allow this dreadful perception about what I claimed in allowances to continue.

"Whatever the right and wrongs of the allowance system this issue has fundamentally changed the view people have of me and that is something I cannot bear."

Doesn't you heart just bleed for his wounded feelings eh? Getting caught with his fingers in the till has changed the view people have of him and he jsut can't bear it.

Victor, NW Kent said...

Perhaps the Member from Corby trapped his fingers in a trouser press?

Unknown said...

Are you calling for all MPs that are repaying money to resign Iain?

Anonymous said...

The full horror that is the Lembit Opik interview is here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/fivelive/programmes/morning.shtml

Lola said...

Hang on a minute - one of looking at this is that standards have dropped in Japan too. Years ago he'd have, literally, fallen on his sword.

Dave H said...

When Zheng Xiaoyu, former director of China's State Food and Drug Administration, was found guilty of corruption in 2007, he was punished by being shot in the head. Is that a system worth trying over here?

I'm normally opposed to capital punishment but am prepared to make an exception in the case of MPs.

Anonymous said...

FOR GOODNESS SAKES.

Iain I am appalled at today's Telegraph. Is this the best they can find on the Liberal Democrats? None of it is good - Campbell's flat looking partcularly out of order - but really what about RENNARD. Why is nobody picking up on this

http://rainbowherbicide.wordpress.com/2009/05/10/rennard-scam-exposed-by-news-of-the-world/

He is a Peer supposedly working and yet a full time job elsewhere earning oodles. So how much working does he do in the Lords or else why do the Liberal Democrats pay him? The man can't even be booted out by the electorate.

It's all been swept under the carpet and yet he appears to be the single biggest offender for the Liberal Democrats. Is there more to come and people are storing it all up? Or are his claims somehow OK?

I must be missing something here.

David Hughes said...

He'd have paid it back, of course - once he'd been nailed to the cross of losing the next election.