I'm a bit late to this, but I have just listened to Lembit Opik commit political suicide on the Victoria Derbyshire show this morning. If I were his Tory opponent Glyn Davies I'd get CDs made of this and deliver them to every home in Montgomeryshire.
Click HERE and scroll in 44 minutes. It lasts 15 minutes. If you have a low embarrassment threshold you'll be squirming...
PS I was told by a senior LibDem the other day that Lembit Opik had asked Nick Clegg at one of their front bench meetings if he would guarantee not to sack anyone who figured in any expenses scandal. Clegg say no. Lembit should hope that his leader is not a 5 Live listener.
73 comments:
Never listen to VD, the initials say it all.
Looks like Lembit Opik is going to spend more time with Uranus after the next election!
No doubt he will write a book called filling the void!!!!
Will his goofiness save him this time? I've lost count of the number of times old Lemmy has committed political suicide, only to come creeping back. I'm amazed he's still around after his letter a while back.
We'll see....
But yes, he is a tool.
I have never been a fan of Lembit Opik. Not one bit. This episode really does ensure that the man is now totally isolated.
As a LibDem member I can honestly say there is nothing attracting me to the man.
Oh, no. That was terrible. And I still thought the Lib Dems were, though generally incapable of competent government, at least coming from the right place. Opik is hopefully alone in being such a drastic exception, but one wonders...
Andrew Pierce did brilliantly, by the way. He would be a fantastic MP. Opik should pay back his money, and then hand in his parliamentary badge.
Thanks for highlighting this. Missed it on the radio - astonishing stuff. As has been said more than once in the last week,
they don't like it up 'em!
Cringe.
These people just don't get it, do they?
Iain,
With respect, this guy is, and always has been, an attention-seeking idiot with distinct Walter Mitty tendencies
My take on chris Huhnes expenses!
http://chrishuhneisdoomed-doomedtodefeat.blogspot.com/
Ooh - I had to terminate the podcast !
I hope that he can earn a living at Scrabble using his name as an anagram for "Total Dickhead" as it would seem that Mr. Opik has demonstrated why Ms Loyd got off lightly !
I'll bet she thinks he is a cringeworthy arse too !
And why was the presenter so afraid to use the word "Fraud" ? Sue me and be damned, Lembit, old boy !
I really can't bring myself to listen to any more drivel from that particular fool. Could someone be generous enough to give me a potted summary of what he said?
Good grief - what on earth was he thinking? I genuinely cannot believe I've just heard that.
Dear oh dear!
Good. The forecast is looking gloomy. Taxi
Been playing with WV again bud?
I heard Double-word-score try to dig his way out live. I had to switch over. The Cheeky-Cheeky media darling attention seeking (when in Hello/OK) twerp just dug his hole too deep.
Besides the fact why does it have to be SO necessary to claim 2.5K for a TV 'to help his parliamentary business'? Why SHOULD taxpayers pay his court fees because he was too busy being a 'celebrity' to take care of his council tax?
Also, why is a person once best known for being SO convinced we're going to get obliterated by meteorites etc that we need an independent asteroid tracking system, spending that much on a tv? Obviously thinks the threat was overblown...
Who's a cheeky boy then?
What a gigantic tool...
Classic La-la-la I'm not listening Brown-style shit...
He just kept waling into haymakers from Andrew Pierce with his chin sticking out..
Tone deaf to a numpty degree...
Ouch.
Optik's faux indignation and flustering defence is exquisitely painful. They really live on a different planet, don't they? Then it gets worse.
By the way, is everybody aware that our wonderful troughing MPs have actually had the brass neck to just vote themselves a 17.5% expenses increase?
http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/100092/EXCLUSIVE-MPs-vote-for-16million-more-expenses
Bloody unbelievable!
C o n t e M P t
Lembit Opik
I liked his frantic back-peddling as he realised what he was in the process of doing. That horse has bolted I'm afraid, Mr. Opik.
Opik came across as a total tosser. The bit about the £2500 TV (just what sort of TV was it?????) which he admits he still purchased even though it was refused by the Commons claims lot but then had it for his own home (so why try to claim for it in the first place?) then make do with a mere £700 TV set for his London pad was just amazing.
Most of us couldn't afford a £700 TV.
I do smile as well when I hear politicians going on about this leaked CD. What about when Governmetns lose OUR data? What about my personal security of my data?
I take it that in the future no politicians will comment or accept ANY leaked documents that might be embarassing to their political opponents?
The man is a tool.
Okay, he sounded like a creeping idiot, but its nowhere near as explosive as as the seaside home excuse or the moat cleaning.
If there is an official scale for 'not getting it', Lembit Opik has gone off the far end.
How self-deluded is it possible to be? Who else expects a corrupt claim for a fine to be overlooked on the basis of a 'good faith' defence?
Lembit Opik and the word "wanker" were made for each other.
I notice Opik mentioned he put the expenses in Good Faith!
Is that what LD's say when they get into grief like the Michael Brown donation "They took it in Good Faith" - They kept it as well!
Pity the victims of Michael Brown who invested in 'good faith' and ended up seeing a group of third raters squander money on something they chose not to donate themseleves.
He sounds pissed to me.
Not committing fraud!! Just one of 646 liars!!
I couldn't listen till the very end. My cringe fibber was busted and my flabber ghasted.
People do so reveal themselves under pressure.
Lembit Opik revealed himself to be a wnaker.
Gordon Brown has revealed himslef to be a bully, the flipside, being a coward.
DC has done rather well. All those freezing dorms at Eton and involuntary buggeries in the bushes have given him the ability to accept adversity and anal discomfort with dignity. This issue has revealed him to be a leader.
I just wish he would shut Theresa May up. She has looked like a rabbit caught in the headlights for the last 48 hours of telly exposure.
God he is a tool and has just shot himself in the foot.
Completely avoidable too. All he had to do was apologize for the court summons claim, admit it was an error of judgement, and tell the radio dudette about the tennant helping him claim less.
The TV issue was dumb of him too, he has a john lewis list with a 750 limit, he should have just asked the fees office to grant him the 750 against his 2500 tv and paid the difference himself. Nothing wrong in having expensive taste as long as you dont claim for more than is right on expenses.
Some MP's really are dumb when it comes to expenses.
Best example of a MP completely out of touch with reality that I have heard or read so far in this affair.
It shows how the system has been "working", buy something expensive like a £2500 television set then see if they will pass the claim. Even £750 seems to be quite a lot for a TV set especially when you seem to often hear MPs saying they don't have time to watch television.
It also makes me wonder after the Home Secretary's porn film scandal, why do MPs need to have a TV subscription paid by the taxpayer? All the main news channels are available on Freeview or Freesat.
Apparently the reason the television was so expensive was that it had a special function where it automatically switched over whenever the Cheeky Girls appeared on a channel.....
"And it was pronounced on that Day, that from that point, He would be known as Lembit "Two TV's" Opik........."
I heard this earlier, and listening to it again is even more cringeworthy. The whole 'TV' questioning segment .. .. ..
I'd bought it, then I tried to claim for it, then I had to have it in my main home because those nasty people at the fees office refused to cough up for it.
What a stroppy undignified interview that was.
Many of our MPs are completely on another planet to the rest of us, aren't they? Just watch Labour with that brush they're waving about.
As for Öpik: some libertarian he!
G'day and greetings from my tropical tax haven,
Please keep in mind that the BBC iPlayer is not available for us expats living outside the UK and is only available to people stupid enough to still live there. Maybe someone can repost on YouTube?
ALSO: Do you think its only a coincidence that "Lembit Opik" is an anagram of "I opt bilk 'em"?
Jesus, what an embarrasment. He lost his credibility a long time ago with the Cheeky Girl thing, but...wow
Behind closed doors, among themselves, I'm sure MP's do think the scandal is, "who leaked the story to the Telegraph, and was he paid for it?" Perfectly understandable.
But to expect the public to see it the same way? Tone deaf bordering on psychotic.
I got through about five minutes of this one; I hope the good stuff wasn't at the end. I have a low embarrassment threshold.
But why would LO fear "sacking" (from a Lib Dem mimicster post) over a £40 fine? Is there more?
Scrolls down ... ah a rebutted mega TV attempt ... Not sure I can be bothered to listen again for that.
And finally I think it is perfectly compatible to want to clamp down on the sleaze AND the leaks.
What an unpleasant man the sanctimonious twat from the Telegraph is.
l'm sorry but all l could hear was Nick Clegg screaming at the radio:-
'LEMBIT ... STFU!'
What an utter fool.
I'm quite interested in the tellies. Did I understand right that he claimed for two tellies, on at over £2,000, and one at £750, and that one is at each of his homes?
I'm not clear after that interview, though, whether he was paid £750 in expenses just once, on the £2k telly (which it seems wasn't for his second home at all) or twice. I wish Victoria had pressed him further on this.
he was on radio ulster and made a cock of himself there too.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00kdntn/Talk_Back_13_05_2009/
In response to Major Plonquer - no need for YouTube in this case - it's only TV shows that iPlayer insists we must be in the UK to watch. As long as you have Real Player installed you can listed and cringe like the rest of us.
@ Major Plonquer;
It's working for me. (in North Cyprus).
Just listened to this. I had no opinion of Mr Opik up to now.
Are you accusing me of fraud, he asked. Victoria Derbyshire said no. Well Mr Opik if the majority of the public that have heard this discussion you would be deafened by the word YES.
Subsequent to listening to this article, I now have formed an opinion of Mr Opik. He is a slimy crook who thought he could take the public for a ride.
Opik is an idiot. As a Tory, I want him to win. Not because he is any good (he certainly isn't), but because Glyn Davies is not a proper Tory. He's basically a Welsh nationalist, wants more powers for the Welsh Assembly and to see a loosened union. Why the Conservatives in Monts selected him, I can't think.
I don't think that Glyn Davies needs Opik to implode for him to win this seat in Montgomeryshire. Mr Davies is well known in this area as a solid citizen involved in all aspects of local affairs. He puts a lot into the community.
A big majority to overturn. He will win because he is a good person and not because Opik is a living walking talking one man farce.
Note that Opik is continuing to trot out the lie that the information was going to be published anyway - as everyone knows, the Speaker's office were planning (with ludicrous obstructionism) to blank out all MP's names from the data.
A question that bugs me at the moment as the excuse-o-meter changes from "within the rules" to "an oversight".
Didn't all these muppets get their receipts so that they could "redact" private details ?
I think if I suddenly got all my receipts in one go shortly before they were published I would check them carefully.
I am just lost for words.
What one would expect from Opik - f**kwittery of the highest order.
More interesting was the Maples interview on Newsnight - if one of the reasons behind the Scrutiny Panel introduced by Cameron is to defuse interviews by the likes of Paxman - "WIL you pay the money bak, WILL YOU?" - then it worked brilliantly.
More to the point perhaps, why hadn't he paid his council tax? I'll bet he was claiming it.
It makes you wonder exactly how much intelligence is needed to become an MP, with all the furore and anger directed at MPs you would think that they had enough sense to keep there head down and mutter a few platitudes.
Unfortunately he seems to be one of those people who see a nest of hornets and decides to see what will happen when he pokes it with a stick.
I live in Montgomery and have voted for LO before he got the celebrity bug implanted in his arse.
His antics over the last few years, dropping local girl Sian Lloyd (thank your lucky stars Sian), his cringeworthy Cheeky Girl episode and now the TV and Fine payments will see him defeated.
Never ever thought I would say it but Glyn Davies will get my vote. Whilst he is a Tory, he is a decent family man with principle with the interests of local people at heart.
Glyn won't do that. He even banned attacks on Lembit on his superb blog last week.
Having said that it probably isn't necessary for Glyn to knife Lembit seeing what Lembit is doing for himself.
We are the cheeky girls, we are the cheeky girls.
You are the cheeky boys, you are the cheeky boys.
Touch my bum, this is life
Having now listened to the broadcast Opik's self immolation was partly because Andrew Pierce handed him a lighted match.
Pierce was brilliant. He kept coming back to the £2250 TV while Opik tried to steer the discussion to DT paying money for stolen goods. Andrew Pierce skewered him. Mr Pierce should be a BBC political reporter and Robinson should go.
Except BBC would neuter him like they did Robinson.
I just love to listen to MPs repeatedly stab themselves with everyday household objects (because everyone has a £2000 TV, right?) in the morning.
When's he on again!?
If I were his Tory opponent Glyn Davies I'd get CDs made of this and deliver them to every home in Montgomeryshire.
Ashcroft will pay presumably?
So, just for my own understanding:
a) He bought a TV for £2.5K and tried to claim it.
b) He was told no he couldn't as it was too expensive.
c) That TV is in his constituency home (designated "main" home) now.
d) He then went and bought a second TV for his London home at £750 and made a successful claim.
Questions:
1) Has the £2.5k TV always been at his main home? If so, then not only was he out of order trying to claim £2.5K, but he shouldn't be claiming stuff for his main home
2) If the £2.5k TV was in his London home initially, it's exceptionally petty to move it solely so he can claim for another one. How many TV's does this guy want?
It sounds like "I'm going to have a TV on the taxpayer come hell or high water".
And to try and justify this stuff?
His houses must be like Arfur Daley lock ups!
They STILL don't get it, and that I'm afraid is very depressing.
If they have poor moral judgement over expenses, then how can the exercise judgement over our laws etc?
All very well saying "We're not as bad as Nigeria" or whatever, but we shoudl be world leaders in this stuff.
Reminds me, did you get anywhere with that £18 Million Iain?
Has Lamentable Opik been groomed at the George Galloway interview academy - it certainly sounds like it.
Maybe I'm alone here but 750 quid for a TV....erm....Hello....erm that's a shit pile of money.
2500 quid for a telly, fuck off!
Personally I thought his comments with regards to Nick Robinson were interesting. If the likes of Opik are going get strung up then they are going to bring the whole establishment crashing down. Just you watch, the BBC/every other public body will be in the firing line next.
That was worth 15 minutes of my life to hear an MP try to convince us that he nearly got away with stealing a £2,500 TV from the British public and getting us to pay his court summons for non payment of another bill.
As they say,you could not make any of this up,it's like a tidal wave of obscenity crashing against the shores of this island.
I note on workingforyou.com that for 07/08 Opik was joint 1st for ACA. He also claims to have saved taxpayers' money by having a lodger. He really ought to seek lessons from other more worthy MPs - and yes, there are some - as his budgeting skills are lacking.
As for his suggestion that a level playing field involves an increase in salary for all and no expenses apart from travel: what a joke. He may be able to subsidise his lifestyle and accommodation with media appearances, but others can't and don't. I suspect his media days are soon to dry up like desiccated coconut.
What goes around comes around.
Unfortunately, I live in Montgomeryshire and have read and listened to Lembit Opik commit political suicide on so many occasions, but this interview and his interviews on BBC Breakfast and ITV yesterday, just confirms that the guy has lost it.
To blame the death of his brother for putting in the £40 summons claim, was frankly dispicable, especially as his brother died 6 months before he put the claim in. If he thought he would get public sympathy for using his brother's death as an excuse for his "mistake" he needs to get a grip on reality - as it has had the reverse effect.
As for Glyn Davies, he is a local farmer and does have integrity and most of all dignity, which I like to see in a politician, and he doesn't write a weekly column in a disgusting soft porn newspaper called The Daily Sport either!
If Nick Clegg has any sense, and wants the LibDems to hold on to the Montgomeryshire seat - he MUST sack this idiot now before he does the LibDems any more damage.
He sounded almost hysterical. Two and a half grand for a TV? What a cheeky boy!
You have a point Alexander - how long can it be before hard-pressed license payers start questioning the astonishing salaries paid to talking heads on the BBC? A journalist-ette admitted last night on Newsnight that she is paid £92K a year.
All part of the Oxbridge system - the little darlings going to Oxbridge know there will always be a well-paid and very easy job at dead old Auntie waiting for them if they get bored and fancy getting in a load of money. Imagine if they had to work for a living! I am sure you find this as unthinkable as I do.
Being MP would always be the first choice though, as the money is so much better and the workload so very low. Why, some Tory MPs try never to attend the House at all!
I was just wondering, has anyone else noticed that if you rearrange the letters in his name, it makes a most amusing anagram.
LEMBIT OPIK =
TOTALLY CLUELESS WEIRD-LOOKING MORON
What a cheeky boy!!!
two and a half grand for a TV disallowed, so I bought one for 750pounds. Rather the tax payer did
PS
I'm not out of touch
Must have been an MP who was expecting to have to pay back his expenses that sold the info to the Telegraph
I've always felt the name was an anagram. It is!
I love to b MP...
Lembit O'Prick commited political suicide the day he took up with the Cheeky Trollop
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