Dear All
You knew it was coming, some MP don’t want to pay their expenses back after receiving their letters from Sir Thomas Legg.
At 3 pm today the deadline to lodge appeals against demands that they repay money closes.
Then the fight begins.
The most intense fight in Westminister history, the ‘Battle of Legg’ will begin.
Unlike Star Wars, there won’t be heroes on both sides, where money is involved heroism doesn’t apply.
Bernard Jenkin is a Tory MP who faces the biggest bill, £63,250 for claiming for rent on a property owned by his sister-in-law.
Lucky for him that his sister in law had a place for rent and lucky for her that Jenkins was available to rent!
To the outsider, the public looking at this, it looks sleazy, looks morally corrupt and more importantly Jenkin never thought of how bad this looks.
Essex North Boy said;
“I am lodging an appeal. There is no question being raised by Sir Thomas about my integrity and honesty. I will pay back whatever is finally decided.”
There is just a question of exercising poor judgment.
In the movie, The Great Escape, at the end there is a line, “they shot 50”.
Funny enough 50 MPs are preparing to challenge the claims at the Westminister stalag.
And the propaganda war has started Tory backbencher, Roger Gale has launched a furious assault Sir Thomas Legg.
His accusation is accusing him of “dishonesty” and “knowingly releasing false information”.
So, it turns nasty, the man who is brought into to fix a mess is being turned on by the very people who are suppose to espouse public values.
Gale represents Thanet North and is not happy being asked to fork over £2,100 claimed for mobile phone bills and nearly £400 in rent for a London flat.
To show that no love is lost between Sir Thomas Legg and himself, Gale stated;
“Legg knows perfectly well that the Green Book was revised in April 2005, and issued in June. My claims (for mobile bills) were all made between 2004 and mid 2005, and so were entirely proper claims. He knows all that. He knows that it was perfectly in order for me to claim that money in the way that I did, and he has completely ignored it.”
You knew it was coming, some MP don’t want to pay their expenses back after receiving their letters from Sir Thomas Legg.
At 3 pm today the deadline to lodge appeals against demands that they repay money closes.
Then the fight begins.
The most intense fight in Westminister history, the ‘Battle of Legg’ will begin.
Unlike Star Wars, there won’t be heroes on both sides, where money is involved heroism doesn’t apply.
Bernard Jenkin is a Tory MP who faces the biggest bill, £63,250 for claiming for rent on a property owned by his sister-in-law.
Lucky for him that his sister in law had a place for rent and lucky for her that Jenkins was available to rent!
To the outsider, the public looking at this, it looks sleazy, looks morally corrupt and more importantly Jenkin never thought of how bad this looks.
Essex North Boy said;
“I am lodging an appeal. There is no question being raised by Sir Thomas about my integrity and honesty. I will pay back whatever is finally decided.”
There is just a question of exercising poor judgment.
In the movie, The Great Escape, at the end there is a line, “they shot 50”.
Funny enough 50 MPs are preparing to challenge the claims at the Westminister stalag.
And the propaganda war has started Tory backbencher, Roger Gale has launched a furious assault Sir Thomas Legg.
His accusation is accusing him of “dishonesty” and “knowingly releasing false information”.
So, it turns nasty, the man who is brought into to fix a mess is being turned on by the very people who are suppose to espouse public values.
Gale represents Thanet North and is not happy being asked to fork over £2,100 claimed for mobile phone bills and nearly £400 in rent for a London flat.
To show that no love is lost between Sir Thomas Legg and himself, Gale stated;
“Legg knows perfectly well that the Green Book was revised in April 2005, and issued in June. My claims (for mobile bills) were all made between 2004 and mid 2005, and so were entirely proper claims. He knows all that. He knows that it was perfectly in order for me to claim that money in the way that I did, and he has completely ignored it.”
Gale misses the point; it is the rules and the application of the rules that has brought the House of Commons and its members into disrepute.
A spokesman for the Legg review declined to comment as throwing mud doesn’t help the situation.
Gordon Brown and David Cameron have urged their MPs to accept the conclusions of Sir Thomas’s review because there is no upside for them doing anything else.
There is going to be a General Election soon.
So, for those who don’t want to pay a penny back, the Commons authorities have warned that MPs who don’t cough up could have money docked from future payments of allowances, salary or pension.
Either way the money is coming back.
So, even if the some money comes back, this will not solve the problem of trust with the public, the culture may have been exposed but the people remain.
Hardly a ring endorsement of the political class!
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University
1 comment:
You've got it. The money must be returned. They can do it nicely or it can be dragged out of them.
I'd like to know though, why Jaquie Smith isn't having to pay back the second house money she claimed for her first house....
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