Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Cos They Had a Bad Day

It's not just Gordon Brown who has had a bad day today. Imagine, you're Health Minister Ann Keen MP. You and your MP husband are informed that your main home is about to be repossessed because it has been empty for months ... and then that nice Paul Waugh finds that you have charged some private healthcare bills to the taxpayer.

Is that the sound of someone saying"Brentford & Isleworth, Conservative Gain"? Or is it the sound of a hasty ministerial resignation being prepared?

56 comments:

Silent Hunter said...

Actually, Iain . . . Paul Waugh has pointed out that the LibDem candidate is better placed to remove the incumbent Labour Crook.

Is that the case?

I'm happy to endorse whichever candidate is 'best placed' to remove the Labour Shyster, as I've said before - people should vote for the ANYONE BUT LABOUR party. ;o)

You know . . . upon reflection, do you think it would be acceptable to call sitting Labour MP's - "the Incumbent Crook" - I mean, we all would know which party was meant by this phrase. LOL

Thomas Rossetti said...

This is just unbelievable, (but somehow not entirely unexpected). Does that make sense?

"Silent Hunter" is right. Paul Waugh suggests the LibDem candidate is mre likely to pick up the seat.

Anonymous said...

There's no way they can wash their hands of this. The expenses scandal will last them their careers, as short or as long as they will be and for years to come.

A general election should be called, just get it over with Gordon, while there's still a Labour Party to dissolve in parliament.

Edward Mann said...

As per UK Polling Report

http://ukpollingreport.co.uk/guide/seat-profiles/brentfordandisleworth

Mary MacLeod, the Conservative candidate, is best placed to kick out Keen.

Anonymous said...

Staggering! And if you look on the BBC News at the moment you won't see this. How did the second home bit not come out earlier?

Grumpy Old Man said...

What is truly unbelievable is that, despite the heat of recent weeks, the Keens were stupid enough to get themselves into such a state.


wv: wingelog!! perfect.

Tom said...

A Labour Health minister!!! You just couldn't make it up, could you?!! Astonishing.

Administrator said...

Something for you to consider linking to:

http://www.irfanahmed.org/2009/06/chris-davies-attacks-burka.html

Anonymous said...

A Labour Health Minister charging the taxpayer for a private hospital bill?
No, it's too outlandish, I couldn't possibly believe this cheap smear.
Someone must be making this up.
Shome mishtake shurely.
Good though, innit?

Thomas Rossetti said...

With regards to VotR's comments, a general election really should be called. There's no chance of one being called any time soon, though, as Brown knows he would lose. (To be fair, John Major did the same thing in 1997.)

When Bush was entering his final year in office, people were close to despair, but they could take comfort from knowing that, at 12noon on January 20th 2009, someone else would be President.

I'm sure there are disadvantages to fixed terms, but the benefits outweigh the drawbacks imho.

Sven said...

Can anyone think of a question that you could ask Brown which he wouldn't answer with: the party opposite will cut spending by 10 per cent?

Expat said...

The Telegraph probably has the original. I really hope that is it something that could have been done on the NHS (even if it would have taken 10 years and carry the risk of a nasty infection picked up in the hospital).

Old BE said...

"your main home is about to be repossessed because it has been empty for months"

eh?? why does one follow the other?

Fausty said...

Blue Eyes - it's one of Labour's new laws. I wonder if Keen voted for it!

Damned shame about the opposition motion on the Iraq inquiry being lost. The speeches were so impassioned - with many Labour MPs calling for impeachment. How did Labour manage it?

Anonymous said...

Heston & Feltham - the seat of Mr Expenses, Alan Keen - could well fall on theback of this as well!

Old BE said...

Ahh, so there is no private property in New Britain? At least socialists are consistent!

Michael Heaver said...

Labour Minister claiming for private healthcare? Has the world gone stark raving bollock mad?

El Sid said...

Blue Eyes - the local council want to make an Empty Dwelling Management Order because they say this "main home" has been vacant for 7 months. So it's not repossession, it's seizure by the state.

See http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8117341.stm

The same article says that it was whilst she was a PPS that she had a £150 consultation at the Blackheath Hospital plus another £82 somewhere along the line. So it sounds like she just had something checked out rather than any kind of major surgery.

Gareth said...

Waugh is not quite right. The property is not going to be repossesed as the council have no claim of ownership on it. It is in danger of being subject to a possession order which to all intents and purposes allows councils to commandeer private property for counil use.

It's an abhorent piece of legislation. It also has the potential to be a massive burden on councils - properties they take control of have have to be looked after.

It's a classic piece of Government legislation - looks good but is so rotten to the core it rarely gets used.

Anonymous said...

If it matters - and I suspect it doesn't - she wasn't health minister when the claims were made.

Not a sheep said...

This possession order law is one of, and there is a hell of a lot of competition, the most vile pieces of legislation this most vile of Labour governments has passed.

Anonymous said...

Two foul Labour MPs getting done by foul Labour legislation; fabulous!

Anonymous said...

"If it matters - and I suspect it doesn't - she wasn't health minister when the claims were made."

She used to be a nurse. Again, it probably doesn't make any difference, but it would be interesting to know why someone with her inside knowledge chose not to be treated by the NHS.

Particularly after all that "investment" we hear so much about.

Anonymous said...

And all this on a day when the Governor of the Bank of England took a bread knife to the competence of the former and present Chancellor of the Exchequer.

John MacLeod said...

Mary MacLeod for me. Good Highland lass and a daughter of the Free Presbyterian manse...

Anoneumouse said...

Chilcot’s

Verity said...

Their private property was about to be seized by the state because it had been empty for seven months - as though that was any of the business of the grotesque British state.

Repeat: It wasn't a repossession. It is private property and has absolutely nothing to do with the council, except they wanted it.

So in Britain, you are not allowed to go and live overseas for a year say, and leave your private house locked up because you will return to Britain to find it seized and occupied. As others have said above, this is the most vile, thuggish administration ever endured by the British people. And it is their own fault, because they voted the statists, who view all property and all people, including children, as possessions of the almighty state. I really do not know how today's Britain differs from the USSR or the former E Germany.

The Grim Reaper said...

I'm surprised anyone's able to make head nor tail of that receipt with all the █████, █████ and ████████ you've got all over it. It's as if they don't want us to know something.

My reaction would be call them a pair of troughing weapons-grade █████.

Brian Moylan said...

http://www.brianmoylan.info/blog.php?blogid=159

Sorry for my "mongoloid" type entry.

Verity said...

Thomas Rossetti or however your name's spelled: "people" were not in despair. The aggressive, militant Trotsky/Gramsci left were furious with the Bush administration, but not in despair, because one of their own was looming up on the horizon and they sensed a whole new lefty dawn with free money and teleprompters for all. Not for the few.

Yak40 said...

Well said Verity.

This Labour filth must be removed as soon as possible, the damage done will take decades to undo.

Brian Moylan said...

I hope I am not "filth" to be "removed".
But probably to you, I am.
But I have known for a long time that for you, to the right-wing, I am exactly that; the evidence is in your "policies" :)
And that's why I'm in the Labour Party; hope.

Fergus Pickering said...

Ah Mr Moylan, you already speak as one in opposition. And, tell the truth now, don't you really prtefer it. Yoy can hope all you want to and there's no need to DO anything. The despicable Tories can do things. And they will, my good fellow. Be assured they will.

DianaClaridge said...

Andrew Dakers is LibDem Councillor for Brentford and Liberal Democrat Group Leader - but there are only 2 of them on the Council! Don't know where the idea of a LibDem win has come from - never heard of them round here?

But then we have never heard from Ann Keen and I have only lived in her constituency for 13 years ... We all thought the Keens would be top of the Telegraphs list so have been very surprised at the silence.

JMT said...

Well it shows how the second home allowance is being abused.

IF this was their main residence, why are they not living in it?

Since the "second" home is obviously where they live, why are they allowed to claim any money towards its running?

This is even worse than jackboots box-room at her sister's.

This is a blatant misuse of public funds.

Sean said...

I hope this is one of many pieces of legislation that the new Conservative Government will scrap as soon as it comes to power.

LiberlaHammer said...

Iain,

The Keens have long been a disgrace and regarded as troughers of the worst kind. Makes one nostalgic - almost - for the days of Barney Hayhoe though not Nirj Deva.

PSJ said...

For the political mood in B&I, go to chiswickw4.com and brentfordtw8.com and scroll past all the posts about people needing new cleaners, etc. The population has been utterly sick of Keen (or K££n as they call her) for years. And Hounslow, the London borough in which B&I is located, went Conservative for the first time in 2006. I am virtually certain that it will be a Conservative gain - it was Tory up until '97.

john miller said...

Why is anyone the least bit suprised about a Labour health minister having private medical treatment.

Remember, this is the party composed of the likes of Diane Abbott. For years she screamed abuse at Tories who had their children privately educated, yet when she had to make a decision, she made the same choice.

No twinge of guilt, no comeback from her constituents, just shameless socialist hypocrisy.

RfS said...

Regardless of who they are the situation with their house is simply theft by the state. And no one, not least a tory blogger, should take joy in this.

Larry Flint once said of the Bill of Rights "If the First Amendment will protect a scumbag like me, it will protect all of you."

If the state can take our property without compensation because it is unused for 7 months then what is to stop them reducing it to 2 weeks? Or even 2 days?

Gvt introduce the Proceeds of Crime act. It allows them to remove cash and belongings they think came from crime. The other month a Welsh man calls the police when he is being burgled. Police turn up but burglar has made off. On searching the house they find the man's life savings in a shoe box. Unable to provide reciepts for a lifetime of 10 pound notes the police take it as Proceeds of Crime until the man can prove otherwise.

Uncle Joe would have been proud.

Letters From A Tory said...

As I explained recently on my blog, every MP is entitled to get the taxpayer to fund private healthcare bills, in the same way that they can use parliamentary allowances to top-up their pensions, pay staff bonuses (including to family members) and cover any legal costs if they get into a court dispute with an employee.

Have a read of this if you don't believe me!

bergen said...

Like everything else,this law needs to be used with some sense.I'm not knocking it because it was used properly a few streets away to sell a derelict empty house which had been an eyesore and a nuisance to neighbours for over 20 years.Why it was threatened in this case I cannot imagine.

Dave W said...

Waugh doesn't actually say "that the LibDem candidate is better placed."

He says "Ann Keen's Lib Dem opponent for Brentford... has a good chance of taking the seat" (The context suggests that this might be how the candidate has presented themselves rather than neccessarily Waugh's careful analysis.

This is probably technically true looking at the UK polling data -if the tories run a bad campaign, their vote collapses etc, local factors kick in and the Lib Dems run a really good camapign and put the type of spij seen here about then they could just win it. However, the Tories are in second place and would be pest placed to win if the swing reflects national trends.

Clever and typical Lib Dem spinning.

Anonymous said...

The reason that we now have laws on the statute book such as the power to seize private property is because we have abandoned Anglo Saxon Common Law ( innocent until proven guilty) and gradually replaced it with European Napoleanic law ( guilty until proved innocent)

Simon Gardner said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Simon Gardner said...

Blogger arrested for death threats on judges

Anonymous said...

Sorry to pour cold water on such a delightful story, but the first stage of the process is for the council to apply for an Interim order, which involves making contact with the owners and telling them to make use of the property.

As for fixed-term parliaments, even better would be to elect 1/5th of the seats on a fixed day each year (and let's move voting to Sundays to encourage turnout). That way they'd have to be consistently good to stay in power, not just offer bribes before elections (quantum help us with next year's pre-election budget)

javelin said...

You forgot to mention it was for a "New Consultation" - which means that couldn't wait, not that there was some expert that was best for her.

Thats News said...

More expensesgate and mixed reviews for Bercow

David said...

The private medical care allegedly relates to a member of staff. Embarrassing but not fatal probably. The repossession of the house is more damaging-a case of the Baroness Uddin's perhaps? She is allegedly under police investigation and given that precedent the Police would presumably have to look at this too.

GHS said...

For some reason I wasn't surprised at the expense scamming. Even the private health wasn't a surprise as I can remember the 70's socialist telling us wealth was evil while sitting in their large pretend farms. However the EDMO was a real shock. The state can come along and take away your property because they don't like what you are doing with it!!?! It's none of their f!!!!!g business. The Toies should be drawing up a long list of laws for immediate repeal.

Dr Evil said...

You mean this hypocrites didn't use the NHS like the rest of us are supposed to? Well, I'm shocked. I'm nearly as shocked as I was when I read about Labour ministers and MPs sending their children to private schools.

Sarge said...

This is better than an Agatha Christie plot.... A property maintained at taxpayer expense which is not occupied is stolen from the thieves who stole it first by other thieves who actually have not got round to stealing it yet 'cos they have to fill in an Equality and Diversity Assessment first.

and it's all within the rules. Help,can I move to a different reality please?

Yak40 said...

Brian Moylan said...

If you are in this gov't then yes, otherwise no.

Paul Halsall said...

If they did charge private healthcare to expenses, I agree that is disgusting.

As a Person with Aids, I depend on the NHS, and I find it truly excellent. For Labour MPs to claim for private health care is just awful.

Unsworth said...

@ Paul Halsall

"For Labour MPs to claim for private health care is just awful"

OK. So how do you feel about Labour MPs sending their children to private schools - or 'Public Schools'? How about those who choose to send their children out of normal catchment areas to 'better' State schools?