political commentator * author * publisher * bookseller * radio presenter * blogger * Conservative candidate * former lobbyist * Jack Russell owner * West Ham United fanatic * Email iain AT iaindale DOT com
Friday, July 03, 2009
London Assembly Members Expenses To Go Online
Boris has finally got Labour Members of the GLA to agree to all their expenses going online from Monday. This will be on a voluntary basis until it becomes mandatory on 15 July. For some reason Labour members have been very reluctant to agree to full transparency. Tories have, I understand been posting their totals, although not full details, since Boris was elected. Having gloated over the demise of Ian Clement, perhaps they have something to worry about. We are about to find out.
All Assembly Members have posted their total expenses since the Assembly was set up. The itemised expenses will now go up but it is a Conservative Member who has been spending by far the most (Brian Coleman). In some years, his expenses have exceeded all of the the others put together.
ReplyDeleteTake a look at the audit panel reports.
Re: Lee Jasper - et al - expenses. No chance whatsoever that we'll see those - except as an FOI request. What should be remembered is that Jasper was a facilitator for transferrence of some large funds - not a direct recipient. However, wheels within wheels, eh? His 'associates' were/are very interesting.
ReplyDeleteShocking propaganda. Worthy of Pyongyang.
ReplyDeleteMr Dale, if you are going to type Tory propaganda at least get Tory HQ to check their facts before posting what they tell you.
ReplyDeleteThere must be some subjects you can post on that you DO have the faintest about ....surely???
It is now getting a little embarrassing that by the time you read the third sentence of your posts, you can tell you haven't got a clue what you are typing about and just repeating what you have been told to post, it is not even convincing any more.
Yep, this is one of the worst researched and thought out posts on this blog.
ReplyDeleteWhat an achievement...
Well, as a Labour Assembly member (and the Group Whip) I can merely concur with the majority of the comments above. Labour members have never hidden their expenses, which are published in reports and free for all to see, as are the declarations of interests and of hospitality. Of course the primary focus should be on those in power - Boris and his chums - and this posting and the spin behind it are, as I told Guto the other day, a mere smokescreen. If Boris screws up he should be big enough to stick his hands up. John Biggs AM.
ReplyDeleteG'Afternoon Iain, how's it going?
ReplyDeleteThis post is bollocks, isn't it?
Do you have plans to fix it?
Come on Iain, own up, who fed you this pile of tosh?
ReplyDeleteAnd the one London Assembly Member not to release their itemised expenses today was...
ReplyDeleteA Conservative (Brian Coleman)
Well, the links are up.
ReplyDeletehttp://bit.ly/TRagv
What's that? There's one member who appears to be "reluctant" to let us examine his expenses.
Doubtless Iain has a plausible explanation for Brian Coleman's omission from the list.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteGuys, be fair to Brian Coleman, please. I'm sure that the reason for the omission is nothing to do with him. It's probably because they need to buy more hard disk space on their server to fit his details on. You can hardly blame him if they don't buy a disk big enough for all his taxi bills.
ReplyDeleteGive the man a break.
In full knowledge this will never see the light of day: Iain - we can see you! You're not hidden behind a curtain, it's visible when you delete stuff. If you can pay this much attention, man, address the damn issue please.
ReplyDeleteThe silence is painful, as is the deleting of Tim's comments.
ReplyDeleteIain Dale you are a terrible coward.
He was banned from the blog in April and is not entitled to post comments. He knows it, but persists.
ReplyDeleteThe banning of Tim aside, for which you are clearly not a man of any stature in my book, the issue still stands regarding the redacting or revision of the contents of this thread, the flaws of which have been pointed out.
ReplyDeleteIain,
ReplyDeleteSo you've got time to monitor the blog for comments from Tim and delete them, but you don't have time to admit that this story is complete nonsense?
Maybe you should reconsider your priorities.
What do you do when someone pretends to be Tim pretending to be somebody else? What if Tim pretends to be someobody else pretending to be him pretending to be someobody else? What if THIS is Tim? Oh God, what then?
ReplyDeleteI'M TIM IRELAND!
ReplyDeleteNO! I AM!
ReplyDeleteI am Tim Ireland and I know that wasn't me just now.
ReplyDelete(or AM I?)
I'm Tim Ireland.
ReplyDeleteI am Tim Ireland (again) and I know that wasn't me just now (again).
ReplyDelete(or AM I? again)
I'm Tim Ireland and so's my wife!
ReplyDeleteI'm Tim Ireland. Or am I?
ReplyDeleteAlso, address the issue Iain!
I am Tim Ireland. No wait, I am Spartacus. No wait, I am Mid Bedfordshire. No wait....
ReplyDelete