[Closed] Best value for money? (MP content)

not my MP (Andy Burnham) for sure. He made a single expenses claim of 16.5k to renovate a flat that he had already recieved a a big hand out from the owners for moving out without question. Then he bought another flat in London and tried to submit the ENTIRE payment (£215,000) as an expenses claim. This was knocked back so he got a mortgage instead and got us all to pay that. The flat is his now, we paid for it but if he sells it he gets the money, and the suggestion is it's worth around £240,000 now.

His first expenses claim? A 20 quid dressing gown from Ikea.

Slimey bastard.

Wonder if he cleans his own arse or are we paying for someone to do that for him?

You probably paid the first time, now he knows how to do it himself.

I like "Two Brains" Willets, who doesn't know how to change a lightbulb.

A quick look at this article on the BBC News website http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8044207.stm would indicate that last year we, the taxpayer, paid out a staggering £11,584,454 in 2nd Home Allowances. 😯

The whole issue comes back to them wanting to be paid circa 100k 'inline with comparable council bosses'. Now my thinking is, YOU DONT HAVE TO TAKE THE JOB IF YOU THINK ITS TOO LOW PAID FOR YOU YOU SNIVELLING THIEVING ****S.

Samuri. Having gone to school with your beloved MP, I can assure you that your description of him doesn't even begin to do him justice

Every time I see his smug grinning face appears on the telly, the wife turns it off instinctively within a second, to try and delay the inevitable swearing and ranting.

The whole issue comes back to them wanting to be paid circa 100k 'inline with comparable council bosses'

Strange that... I think the council bosses wanted more money so that they were in line with other, comparable civil servants, like MPs.

Last night's local news had a great bit of local colour from Bedford or somewhere similar. One bloke interviewed told the reporter that "I work away from home and I don't get paid all these expenses"

Good man.

I have the misfortune to know a few MPs and I wouldn't give them the steam off my shite never mind anything else.

Smee - lol

wow it seems the torry MPs really are a higher class of oinking greedy leeches

at least 4 claims for swimming pools, 1 for a helipad in the garden and one for cleaning the moat!!!!!

wtf is oliver cromwell when you need him

Best news is HMRC are now looking at a tax claw-back! Tuning a piano doesn't appear to be wholly and necessarily for carrying out ones employment duties. Who'd a thunk it?

Even [url= http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8045250.stm ]Tebbitt[/url] is putting the boot in.

I like his reference to the "welfare junkies".

As usual, [url= http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/politics/politics-headlines/top-tory-claims-for-drawbridge-wax-200905121754/ ]The Daily Mash[/url] sums it up best.

Meanwhile, there are people who can't get vital operations, because of a lack of money. There are schools under-resourced, and not enough police.

I don't know why anyone is surprised that MPs are often greedy, self-serving scum, but some of the revelations of Tory MPs claims are just unbelievable. They earn how much, and claim for having a ****ing swimming pool cleaned? I pay less than that, for my gym/pool membership, for a year!

Scum. Utter, utter scum.

People are losing their jobs, their homes, their self-respect, whilst this lot, who have none of the latter anyway, seem to think it's ok to leech off the state. They make dole-scroungers look like fine upstanding members of the community.

Thing is, this has gone on forever, pretty much; it's just that Parliament protected it's own. Hopefully, this will now lead to far greater transparency and openness, regarding just how much these bloodsuckers are screwing the nation for.

Tebbits only saying that to further his anti-euro point of view.

I find it amusing when we complain about MP's. Its our previously total lack of interest in politics that creates the problems we have now.

If you were in their position, would you do what they did? Be honest now.

If you were in their position, would you do what they did? Be honest now.

No. You're in a position of trust. You do not betray that trust, by scamming the system to this degree.

This is not someone doing a bit of work off-cards, to supplement their low income, or someone pinching a bit of printer paper from the office, to use at home; these are wealthy, educated people with more than enough to live on, lining their own pockets, and feathering their (second) nests in a luxurious manner.

Personally, I woon't want to screw the system, when I know there are people who desperately need help from the State.

But then, I'm not a politician...

I blaim Thatcha, just thought I'd get it in now. The scum we have as MP's are reflection of the society that we now live in. They are normal people like the rest of us, greedy and when they think know one is looking getting a bit extra. I don't like it but understand it's human nature. Name and shame the lot of them I say. At least with a Tory you know it's about getting it for yourself but with a Labour socialist, we'll you should see better. Sack the lot of them. Does morality exist anymore in our society? "I have not broken the rules of the house" Ar$e.

One of the excuses [I can't remember who]when asked to explain a claim was "I didn't expect them to pay it"

I suspect some [most] of them just claim for everything & see what they can get through.

That goes way beyond acceptable behavior

One of the excuses [I can't remember who]when asked to explain a claim was "I didn't expect them to pay it"

I suspect some [most] of them just claim for everything & see what they can get through.

That goes way beyond acceptable behavior

Pretty standard for most people who are entitled to expenses.

"[i]If you were in their position, would you do what they did? Be honest now.[/i]"

I'd be honest. Claim what I spend. It's what I do in my current role.

The scum we have as MP's are reflection of the society that we now live in.

What? You'd have us take a look at ourselves? Come on, we've got to find a scapegoat and quickly.

Labour socialist,

Those two mentioned in the same sentence=DOES NOT COMPUTE.

And I have to point out that this whole thing is not about Tory or Labour or LibDem being worst (Labour is the biggest offender so far anyway), it's about how pretty much all of the current crop of politicians have their snouts in the trough.

The fact that they are bleating about "within the rules" is carp. They had a hand in writing the rules, so it's just another form of nest-lining.

If I hear "it is within the rules" one more time I swear I'm going to hunt them down.

Pretty standard for most people who are entitled to expenses

Not for me it's not & I suspect if I started making speculative claims my boss would have something to say on the matter

Who, the MP that said it, any MP, or the person that says it (even if they are not an MP)?

All the profiteering and disingenious claims for doing up flats and selling them at our expense, constant flipping around of where the 2nd home is designated etc is cynical exploitation, is clearly exploiting the system rather than genuinely covering costs, and would surely be treated as fraudulent behaviour at most companies and by the tax man - they should be prosecuted/sacked if they've been doing this stuff, just like anyone else would.

So no I wouldn't do that cos I'd worry about losing my job and ending up in court as well as cos it's wrong. But were I an MP, in a public high profile role, with knowledge that the press look out for this stuff as do my political opponents, I'd think it completely idiotic to try this stunt.

Cromwell & Guy Fawkes please....

I agree with somebody who said that this has happened because nobody gave a flying * about politics before this, the good thing that came out of this mess is the public being more interested in what is going on.

Some MP's were encouraged to make claims by the fees office to make up for their pay. While I think people who claimed on 3 houses are complete b***, it must have become a "normal" thing to do in their line of work. Kudos for those who did not misuse the system though.

i think the daily mash nicely summed up the difference between the 2 major parties

"Labour MPs claiming for nice things from John Lewis that their parents could never afford, while the Tories are focused on maintaining large volumes of water in their back gardens."

question is what will the lib dem expenses be for??

organic fair trade vegetable boxes?

I think this is just as bad as people claiming Rohloff hubs for CTW scheme, tax evasion or profiting, and most likely costing the country more than small claims made by MP's (2nd houses and renovating put aside).

The thing that grates about this is not that they have topped up their earnings by claiming for this that and the next thing on expenses - we would all do that given the opportunity - it is the fact that they have well and truly ripped the arse out of it and taken the piss. If anyone took the piss to such an extent in the private sector they would have their P45 in the next post.

'within the rules' that they wrote. Just like 'I was just obeying orders'

I still can't quite understand the Luton MPs claim for a second home in Southampton. She lives and works in Luton, but her 'partner' lives in Southampton?
Surely that's just tough is it not.
Just find another boyfriend/girlfriend.
Or do it in style and claim for your partners home in Monaco.

Portillo speaking on this week a while back said on his first day in the commons he was taken aside and explained that expenses were there to top up their salaries and if he didnt claim the full amount he would be letting the side down

"If you were in their position, would you do what they did? Be honest now." and "Pretty standard for most people who are entitled to expenses."

We're not in their position, stick some of their claims on your tax form and see how generous HMRC are with the phrase 'wholly, exclusively and necessarily'. Try getting a lanmower past your boss.

I've worked in US, Canada, France and various UK cities. I got hotels, travel and some meals. Note that HMRC allows me £5 per day unreceipted in UK and £10 per day abroad. I thought it was a bit tight but I certainly didn't find it to hard to understand.

Best I ever got was US, company paid hotel, hire car and flights, I got 20USD per day (Mon Fri) unreceipted, not allowed to claim anything else, I was there for 3 months - 1 flight - ie out + back.

Quite how they can justify and 'independent committee' begars belief, we already have one - HMRC.

Has anyone the power to dissolve Parliament?

What's really p*ssing me off is the fact they say to us - tighten yer belts, it's going to be a difficult couple of years - most of us will be lucky to get a pay rise this year, and those b**tards vote through their own pay rise and then claim for this that and the other because "they're allowed to!!"

As for people not voting in elections - what's that going to achieve?

an labour peer getting back at an overpaid bbc news presenter
wait a minute we pay her salary too!!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8045414.stm

Its a problem with a self policing closed shop as parliament is. What was once considered poor form becomes expected and accepted. You start off with a justifiable expenses claim for rent for somewhere to lay your head in London and end up with the "flipping" of second home status to fiddle as far as you can.

Don't forget by European standards are MPs are paid poorly.

I believe its now time for radical rethink on all this. Raise the salaries but stop all allowances except a rent allowance at market rates and capped for those who have to stay in London but do not own a second home there. No buying of second homes, no expenses for anything at all.

There was a similar scandal in the Scottish parliament over second homes. sorted out

"The parliament suffered its own spate of scandals over travel expenses and second-home claims, but was quick to implement far-reaching change. Not only did the parliament make details of every expenses claim accessible on its website, but the controversial system of paying MSPs' mortgages was scrapped.

The taxpayer, from May 2011, will only foot the bill for rental or hotel bills when MSPs stay in Edinburgh."
http://www.sundayherald.com/news/heraldnews/display.var.2507208.0.westminster_asks_holyrood_for_expenses_advice.php

Has anyone the power to dissolve Parliament?

Yes. The Queen.

Fat lot of good she's doing. When this blows over, I propose we demand the dissolution of the Monarchy. Complete waste of time and money, if our 'Head of State' is powerless to actually keep Parliament under control.

i dunno if the queen is in a position to criticise mps for claiming too much off the taxpayer

I don't like it at all and now understand and know what I suspected all along. Anyone that wants to be a politician of any party, should be banned from doing so. It's greed and power for them. It's time that we had a system similar to Jury service. You get called up for a given period, you and all the others then run the show. No parties no interest groups just interest in running an honest goverment and fair country. Another p;ig has just flown past the window.

What would happen if we had a general election and no-one voted?

A worthy solution to this would be the nationalisation of the second homes, thus helping to assist with the social housing shortage by adding some castles and penthouse flats into the stock.

Like that'll happen though...

As for people not voting in elections - what's that going to achieve?

Its already happening. This is part of the result.

I worked for an MP, before he was one. They aren't ALL thieving bastards.

[url= http://www.leedsne.co.uk/mp_expenses.htm ]check his expenses[/url]

Lootenant - Member
What would happen if we had a general election and no-one voted?

As I understand it, they'd hold onto their "seat" and their "job".

A couple of interesting points on all of this so far....
1 - The eerie silence from the LibDems on any of this. Are there going to be some skeletons coming out there as well?
2 - Balls - The odious Ed Balls and his equally odious wife have been, for many years, widely rumoured to be the biggest troughers of the lot. Not one peep has been uttered about them yet....! Rumour has it they have taken out an injunction to prevent publication. If so, they must resign immediately. Freedom of information is just that, freedom. If they have taken out an injunction, I'd love to see the Telegraph test them out, publish and be damned etc. Either way, I suspect that the Balls household(s) may well be the final cherry on top of this story.

Mine only spent £383 on "Other expenses".

I bet his moat is in a right ####ing state.

I worked for an MP, before he was one. They aren't ALL thieving bastards.

check his expenses

That all seems above board I guess - but £23k for mortgage interest and upkeep on his London flat for one year?

Do they all get 5 year mortgages and expect to build up a property portfolio if they get elected for several terms or what?

It seems to me that Thursday is Euro(waste of vote)MP voting day. What if we all got together and did not vote for ant of the major parties.

Perhaps we could all vote BNP or UKip and givem all a bloody scare.

mt - even Tebbit had to clarify that he didn't support voting Nazi.

an labour peer getting back at an overpaid bbc news presenter
wait a minute we pay her salary too!!

Hmm. I bet the BBC presenter doesn't fiddle their expenses though. BBC expenses are pretty tight - for meals they get a max of £6 for lunch, £14 for dinner, including drinks etc. with receipts submitted, even if you're eating out in Central London. Anything unreceipted is not paid.

Joe

[i]A couple of interesting points on all of this so far....
1 - The eerie silence from the LibDems on any of this. Are there going to be some skeletons coming out there as well?[/i]
Hardly interesting. It's the same reason as the tories kept quiet about moat cleaning and the price of horsehsit 🙂

2 - Balls - The odious Ed Balls and his equally odious wife have been, for many years, widely rumoured to be the biggest troughers of the lot.

It seems a strange rumour, you might be right, but looking Ed Balls expenses they seem pretty much in the middle of the ranking. Had he been claiming full second homes allowance then what you said might make sense, but at the moment it does sound a bit like a guido* based smear.
[url] http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8044207.stm [/url]

* Who appears to be far more odious then any MP of any party.

porterclough - I will not apologise for my suggestion though I will own and agree that it's a bit drastic. We need some how to show the bu&&ers that our vote is not their right. The scariest folks I can think of are the BNP and the most usless vote I can think of are the Euro elections. Could tone it down to just UKip but not sure it would be strong enough.

As the great sage Billy Connolly once said - "Wanting to become and MP should immediately bar you from becoming one."
Should be done like a jury - 450 regular peeps do a 24 month Parliamentary Duty, Govt pays for a temp to fill in for you, after which you go back to your normal life, you earn your normal salary paid by employer so keeping your PAYE & NI up to date.

Right now that's sorted, onto climate change...

Well i can see the need for living in london and living in your constituency (if its far enough away from london) I can see the need for travel between the 2 or for official functions. But the clothes the food and all the other stuff i really dont see the need for. Infact im pretty sure there is an empty army barracks in london that would be suitable for turning into mps apartments. If your only there 4 nights a week so im sure it doesnt need to be the lap of luxury. Okay so that London accommodation handled, now you can pay for your house in your constituency out of your wages (After all that is where you live right?). Now transport well we have a perfectly good public transport system dont we? So free train bus and underground travel for all MPs want to use a car fine do it out of your wages unless its for official engagements.

Stephen Fry has confirmed the whole thing (MP's expenses) is not important!

I'm glad we cleared that up. Lets move on... Nothing to see here!

My MP is an odious slime faced ball of ****t. He has been convicted of breaking a cyclists neck whilst driving his 4x4 in Westminster (see http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/essex/7868435.stm )

He also has a face I want to punch every time I see it.

He is the MP for Chelmsford (about 35 miles from Westminster). He claimed £18,908 last year for a 2nd home. £3,180 gets him a season ticket on the train, he don't live that far away.

I want to punch his face a bit more now

Showing my ignorance now but.....

What do MP's actually do? as far as I can see it's knocking on my door every now and again, asking if there's anything I want to ask him/her, getting annoyed if I do ask, appearing in the local paper some days later drinking Champagne, doing an invisible man impersonation whilst leaving his/hers minions to say there's nothing they can do it all comes under central government.
Is that what MP'ing is?

rogerthecat - as you may have read in my earlier post we seem to be on the same wave length. Can we now start some sort of pressure group change the system?

wow cheeseyfeet your mp really is a scumbag among scumbags

It seems to me that Thursday is Euro(waste of vote)MP voting day. What if we all got together and did not vote for ant of the major parties.
Perhaps we could all vote BNP or UKip and givem all a bloody scare.

Because A: Tebbit would like that as even his beloved tory party is not as anti-Eu as he is,

B: The damage that can be done by allowing those sort of parties in, just because you want a protest vote. These sort of votes demonstrate that while democracy is vital and you can vote for whoever, there should be some responsibility shown by the voter as to what issues they have in mind and if they are relevant to whats been voted on.

It shows that the uk voter doesn't take the implications of who they vote for at local election or EU election level seriously at all.(waste of vote 😉 )

What I would say is if you want a protest vote wait for the general election, not a great deal of choice as it will be red tory or blue tory who'll win.

El-bent
B: The damage that can be done by allowing those sort of parties in, just because you want a protest vote. These sort of votes demonstrate that while democracy is vital and you can vote for whoever, there should be some responsibility shown by the voter as to what issues they have in mind and if they are relevant to whats been voted on.

Interesting that we as voters should show some responsibility while our representives show no restraint, morality or responsibility. Totally agree that "those sort of parties" are not good but I say again. The Euro elections elects MEP's who are pretty much powerless so lets not wait for the general election, lets send the message now. Lets givem the kick they need. You could vote Green as a protest but I can't see the fear factor there.

By the way I always thought that Mr Tebbit was an advocate of cycling so don't be to harsh.

[i]Mr Tebbit was an advocate of cycling so don't be to harsh.[/i]

george bush was a keen mountainbiker but still a ****

Mr Tebbit was an advocate of cycling so don't be to harsh.

I think it was his dad who was keen on cycling 😀

an labour peer getting back at an overpaid bbc news presenter
wait a minute we pay her salary too!!

No, 'we' don't. Her salary will be paid out of the licence fee. Which is entirely voluntary, based on whether you wish to have a TV or not. I don't, so I don't contribute towards this woman's salary.

£92k, though. Blimey. Still, not as much as Wossy gets..

george bush was a keen mountainbiker but still a ****

It's a good point, and well made.

uplink - oh aye, it were his dad. So don't be to harsh on him, his dad was a cyclist. Yes I know this falls down when you apply it to george Bush.

In the light of all these MP's grabbing our money it seems to me that they are no different from some of the bankers who have used their position to gain money. Ok the scale on an individual base may be higher but it's the same motivation. I question how many of us would have done the right thing.

Anyway, if all these MP's have got their snouts in the trough, why don't they have Swine Flue! Ok I'll bu&&er off home.

[url= http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8044998.stm ]bbc[/url]

its ok 'outraged' camerons gonna get his team of toffs to pay it all back, including the 600 quid he spent on getting some plants pulle doff his chimney

wtf do they find these 'workmen' that charge 600 quid for climbing up a ladder

Stephen Fry has confirmed the whole thing (MP's expenses) is not important!

He seriously disappointed me this morning with a display of bourgeouis (oh the irony of him taking the mick out of the bourgeouis) flippancy towards the snoutery that has been exposed. Gone down in my expectations, but I expect I'll forgive him once QI comes back on.

1 - The eerie silence from the LibDems on any of this. Are there going to be some skeletons coming out there as well?

I couldn't believe it had taken you till page 2 to try to deflect the attention from the tory scum revelations today. I suspect there will be a few of them taking the piss but I'll have a fiver with you that they won't come near the levels we've seen today. You made hay over the allegations of the last few weeks despite being warned that the tory expense claims would make labour's seem amateurish. And now, you seek to deflect?

....Rumour has it they have taken out an injunction to prevent publication.... suspect that the Balls household(s) may well be the final cherry on top of this story.

I'm in now way defending the Balls' but you ought to stick to your tory weblogs or wherever you're reading your allegations. Added to that, yet another attempt to deflect attention from today's revelations. I shouldn't be surprised...your likes' contempt for the working classes of society (or "proles" as you once referred to them..,in one of your less than tasteful references to the people who live around the breadline on council estates) make labour look like amateurs just learning the ropes.

That **** Hogg...I'm sickened that I paid to dredge that scum's moat when I remember his contributory role in the death of Pat Finucane.

Interesting that we as voters should show some responsibility while our representives show no restraint, morality or responsibility.

Well, as mentioned before MP's are a reflection on the society they represent. Monkey see, Monkey do.

MEP's who are pretty much powerless so lets not wait for the general election, lets send the message now. Lets givem the kick they need.

By sending a load of parties into the Eu parliament which in turn has and will damage our interests. Great.

[url=

]"Like a job, in other words?"[/url]

😈

[url= http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8047410.stm ]OK, hands up - Who among us could put their hands on £40k, just like that?[/url]

Been squirreling away the expenses, Phil?

As mentioned on my earlier thread, this whole thing stinks on all sides. I do, however, wonder what is to come about the Balls household...!

The reality of this whole situation is that our democracy is actually under threat through it. There are a number of major issues, but top of the list is news manipulation for political reasons by the Telegraph. For example read headline that says “Brown pays brother £6000 for cleaner ” and rewrite it more honestly to “Brown pays £53 a week for flat cleaning in Central London by sharing resources with his brother” and you’ll get my point. Exactly the same infromation just presented differently.

No excuses for wrong behaviour, but lets be honest about it and deal with it above board and truthfully, otherwise its just repeating the corruption.

So unsupportable and clearly fiddled expenses, perhaps like Camerons assistant, call in the Old Bill and nail the bugger. You know the one? Husband and Wife MP’s both claiming seperately for the same second home?

As mentioned on my earlier thread, this whole thing stinks on all sides.

What, you're so focused on what Labour's been up to that you've only just "vaguely" acknowledged that the Tories are at it as well?

Well done you.

More than at it

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8049614.stm

noteeth,

That clip is priceless, really priceless. In addition to that classic comment, how about "...I have to be there, not like a Liberal Democrat..."

Snout... Trough... Well and truly up to his ****ing neck in it.

Stephen Fry thinks it's OK for them to fiddle their expenses and says that we all do it but I'd struggle as I need receipts for everything and can only claim for things like hotels,food and travel. Are people, other than MPs able to fiddle expenses beyond a few quid?

My company checks everything and you need a receipt. They were running round not knowing what to do last year after I bought an oyster card on a stay in London instead of getting daily travel cards. I saved the company a few quid as it's cheaper on the tube with an oyster card but they didn't know what to do without receipts...

I had the same problem with the Oyster card so just claimed bike mileage - often did ride but not always. BTW, it worked out financially slightly worse for me doing that!

I was thinking the same as the good Capt. This MP has agreed to pay back over £40K! I thought they were all skint? Surely expenses are just that, reimbursements for money spent. So where's he got £40K from? Hazel Blears also seems to have a spare £13K sloshing round the current account. As as for the guy claiming £800 a month for a mortgage that had been paid off, well I'm sorry but if £800 extra suddenly started turning up on my monthly statement I'd notice it pretty bloody quickly. If £80 extra started turning up that'd be nice!

Anyone remember the government sponsored "Shop a Scrounger" campaign? Seems the Daily Telegraph took them at their word.

It is fraud plain and simple. Are HMRC as understanding with the general population? No are they buggery. And that's another thing. All this talk of independant regulatory bodies. We've got one. WE DON'T NEED ANOTHER!!! Let HMRC review their expenses like the rest of us.

I really would like to see some fines, sackings and removal of pension rights in the light of this. No actually I would like to see some lynchings but unfortunately that's not going to happen.

What really boils my piss is the constant drivel from our leaders about the need to prudence in these difficult times. About the need to increase taxes to pay for x, y and z. About the need for efficiency drives. What they really mean is they need to raise more money as John Lewis are getting the latest wide screen from Sony in next week and it is this seasons must-have gadget.

Bastards the bloody lot of them.

I think MPs have had an unofficial "who can make up the most ridiculous claim" contest.

We'll have all forgotten about come June, then it'll back to voting for the parties that support our own views/prejudice and sod what has been done.

I seethat an offical complaint to the rozzer has now been made regarding Elliot Morley. And a tory couple have resigned, how do I make a complaint?