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Thursday, December 10, 2009
Gordon Thinks He Deserves a Medal
The question on most people's lips after watching that will be this: what on earth was he doing claiming £500 for repainting a summer house in the first place? And he seems to think he merits a medal because he volunteered to pay it back!
Gordon Brown is not alone in putting in claims for this sort of thing. Many MPs across the House have done the same. But I say again: what on earth went through their minds when they thought, yup, this is something the taxpaper should fork out for? Ah, they say, but the rules said it was OK.
That's not an explanation the electorate is ready to accept.
Why is Gordo so fond of transparency but when it comes down to it he wants an internal committee to look at these things?
ReplyDeleteThe basic principle of expenses is - if costs are incurred as a result of carrying out parliamentary duties then that money is eligible to be reclaimed, and should be reclaimed.
The best way to police this is to let MPs claim for whatever they want and publish every claim online. Let the public decide whether a claim is justified. If there are questionable ones, such as Darling's £48 door, then let MPs come out to explain why they've claimed (I accept that the taxpayer should pay to fix a vandalised door at his constituency office). If the answer is deemed unsatisfactory, then the matter should go to the Fees Office, who will decide whether to cancel the expense.
"Nobody asked me to pay it back... I did that, I did it myself"
ReplyDeleteThe Telegraph is reporting...
"The Prime Minister's claim for the summer house was first exposed in July this year during The Daily Telegraph's investigation into MPs' expenses, but at the time Mr Brown refused to pay back the money."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/6777390/MPs-expenses-Gordon-Brown-repays-500-for-summerhouse.html
If as he says, "no-one asked" the PM to repay £500 it speaks volumes for the poor level of scrutiny given to his particular expense affairs.
ReplyDeleteThere are many things that the electorate will not accept. How about reneging on promises of a referendum on the EU? How about being controlled by unelected, unaccountable, cant get rid of, troughing commissars? How about willing to through away £18billion of taxpayers money away on a science THAT HAS NOT BEEN PROVEN? Iain, I sometimes do wonder what planet politicians are on. There was a story in the Daily Mail mentioning a scientist who believed that Thomas the Tank Engine was dangerously against women, stereotyped women as subservient etc etc. I wrote a comment 'These people really are on a different planet aren't they?'. That comment could truly apply to politicians of all colours. They are not listening to the public. They are not representing us. They are selling us down the river and p*ssing us all off. I seriously believe that BNP & UKIP will get a seat at the next election.
ReplyDeleteBut, if I recall correctly, the rules didn't say it was okay.
ReplyDeleteMy understanding that expenses had to be incurred in the course of carrying out their duties as an elected member.
Am I missing something?
Get the basic facts of their employment aorted out and a lot of issues get sorted automatically.
ReplyDeleteAn MP's primary place of work is Westminster. Pay them to live and work in London and give them the rent and service charge on a 2 bedroom flat in their constituencies. Most of this would then be sorted.
Lets have a close look at just which MPs from which parties are guilty of screwing the system with expense claims shall we?
ReplyDeleteThe labour party
The conservative party
The liberal democratic party.
Westminster has become rotten and not fit for purpose, it has less to do and gets paid far more for doing much less, they are a rubber stamp stooge rump obeying orders and taking their 30Pcs of silver, they give away our sovereignty and our independence, they lie to our faces and cheat us yet expect us to vote for them?
This last free election coming in 2010 could and should be used as a means of purging the conmen/crooks/pimps/thieves/charlatons/rent seekers/yesmen/greasy pole climbers/party droids/common purpose sellouts and traitors, the UK has ONE last chance to stand up and shake loose the chains being wrapped around us common folk after that we are finished as a free people and fully deserve the appalling fate of a subject and dominated serf people that awaits us all should any of the big three get power. I am not exaggerating our dark future, whether we continue to exist as a free people free in our own lands now rests on one day some months from this day The latest fork in our long and wonderful historical road either points to freedom or a hellish penal servitude!
Contrast MP's expenses with the conditions that their victims have to live under.
ReplyDeleteSmith claims £611 for a bed, but I have to make do with a mattress I found in the street.
MP's claim for new kitchens - I don't even have a cooker.
Iain,
ReplyDeleteThese 'flat belly' adverts on your blog are phishing scams.
Isn't this just like the scribbled and illegible letter writing issue where the issue ended up by all, including Tory supporters and party, praising him?
ReplyDeleteLet's give him a clap on the back everyone and call him a good bloke, come on all you Tory supporters...[sic]
In Gordon's mind, that's the election bought for £500...
ReplyDeleteThe cheek of the knut. He should not of taken the money in the first place.
ReplyDeleteAs Copenhagen collapses into chaos with more revelations of dodgy science and big nation stitch ups the Labour "fear and panic" bounce will disappear Smaller but no less damaging stories like this will continue to erode trut in politics too. I'm leaning towards a government of national unity after the election.
ReplyDeleteLabour of course will go off and sulk for half a century as they did in the 1930s.
It will be interesting to see who gets Chancellor, George or Vince.
Why should anyone have to 'ask' Brown to repay a claim which, if not actual fraud, was extremely dubious? He should certainly have considered that before claiming.
ReplyDeleteWhen he submitted the claim, he certified that the expense was wholly and exclusively incurred as part of his Parliamentary duties. So what part does a summer house play in those duties?
This is all make-it-up-as-you-go-along stuff from a congenital liar.
was he in the hospital to explain to the staff how his PBR will affect them directly and more or less immediately?
ReplyDeleteAnd why does he think it's OK for the taxpayer to fork out to have Sky+ installed in his (or Sarah's) bedroom?
ReplyDeleteWell, that's pretty typical Brown then isn't it?
ReplyDeleteTwo sentences and both of them lies.
No, Brown, it was against the rules.
No, Brown, you were told to pay it back.
Anything else you'd like to say? If so, write it down and post it to yourself. No-one else gives a toss. Bye.
"Carbon trading fraudsters may have accounted for in some European countries, up to 90pc of all market activity with criminals pocketing an estimated €5bn (£4.5bn) mainly in Britain, France, Spain, Denmark and Holland, according to Europol, the European law enforcement agency." (Telegraph)
ReplyDeleteThe 'New Window tax' is shaping up nicely.
Did you notice the Question Time was all about the war( should have been held months ago)in the week of the release of MPs expenses and the pre budget presentation, so non of this was on QT.
ReplyDeleteIf that is the BBC not helping the Labour government then i do not know what is. If it had been a Tory government the followig QT would have been all about the pre budget.The BBC planned it this way.
It's so easy to see when the idiot Brown is lying his teeth out, it makes you wonder quite why he does it...
ReplyDeleteCan someone tell me why the Prime Minister of England, Gordon Brown is allowed to claim second home allowance when he does not possess a second home? The London flat is in his wife's name, he lives in a grace and favour house at 10 Downing Street and has the use of a country estate, Chequers...So the only home he owns is the one in his Fife constituency.
ReplyDeleteGutter filth. We are at the end of an era, where the 'ruling classes' (i.e. our public servants) just don't care any more.
ReplyDeleteThe servants are emptying the safe.
To highlight the extent of the MP expenses claims, if an MP was to claim a flight from Richard Branson Virgin Galactic at US$200,000, something which is vastly out of the price range for us mere mortals, it would rank them only 386th most expensive member of parliament making a claim in 2007-8.
ReplyDeleteThe Sunday Satire, www.thesundaysatire.blogspot.com