Alistair Darling

Even if you did accept the ‘inadvertent’ errors almost every MP has made with their expenses claims, can anyone stomach the Chancellor (you know, that person in charge of all our money) making mistakes on something as simple as an expenses claims form.

I wonder if they would accept my plea of ‘inadvertent error’ if they found me to be fiddling my self assessment tax form?

COCKCOCKCOCKCOCKCOCKCOCK!

Last night when he was on C4 News explaining himself he had this smug “ooh, look you’ve caught me, snigger snigger,” look on his face. I’ve never wanted to punch somebody ever in my life, but last night i was infuriated.

Would the defence of “oops, I seem to have inadvertantly lined all the thieving bastards up against a wall and shot them” work do you think?

As long as you have a smug look on your face as you admit it on all the major news channels…

I’m amazed that they still don’t get what they have done wrong.

He’s a million times better than Ed Balls, the man who has screwed up everything he’s got his grubby hands on and helped destroy our economy as Gordon’s advisor when he was chancellor.

He’s a million times better than Ed Balls, the man who has screwed up everything he’s got his grubby hands on and helped destroy our economy as Gordon’s advisor when he was chancellor.

hmm…and I thought it was ignorant b*****rs in the US borrowing beyond their means who were the one of the main causes of the Global economic downturn. Just out of interest, how exactly did Ed Balls help to destroy our economy?

It’s not their fault, it’s The System! If anything, they’re the victims in all of this. You think it’s easy living in the lap of luxury at the tax payers’ expense? It’s not, it’s hell and they only do it because of The System.

All these years I’ve been far too good with my expenses. I think I should learn from our leaders and take the p***

I used to work for a company who only “allowed” £15 expenses for an evening meal if you stayed away. £15!! As you might imagine that was one rule that was broken

Smee – Member
I’m amazed that they still don’t get what they have done wrong

Of course they get it, they just won’t (have been advised not to?)admit it.
They all claim “mistake”, but they know their only mistake was getting caught.

any normal person would be fined for “making a mistake”. I think getting the chop would be getting off lightly. Smug fecker.

I really struggle to care about all this. Did anyone ever really think that MPs were some kind of moral role models? A new batch of power-hungry twots will get in power soon – the difference being they are mostly so incredibly rich that they don’t need to fiddle their expenses as much.

Personally, I think the approach that some other countries take is far better than the UK. I think it was Sweden or Denmark that took advantage of a downturn in their economy to buy a large apartment block near their parliament. The MP’s are then allocated a flat in the block – if they don’t like this, there’s nothing to stop them renting a flat in the area, but they have to pay out of their own pocket.

I really struggle to care about all this. Did anyone ever really think that MPs were some kind of moral role models? A new batch of power-hungry twots will get in power soon – the difference being they are mostly so incredibly rich that they don’t need to fiddle their expenses as much.

Exactly!

Ed Balls was the Chancellors advisor; if they had decided to run a budget surplus when times were good like any decent government would, then wouldn’t be in nearly the kind of mess the country is in at the moment.

He’s also wrecked the SATs system, put school leaving age to 18 meaning colleges will have to put up with people who don’t want to be there which will make it hell for people who want a decent education and look at the great child protection system the UK has, wait he runs that too.

then wouldn’t be in nearly the kind of mess the country is in at the moment.

So what would be so different? Would it have saved thousands of jobs?

I’m no fan of New Labour, but the way everyone is blaming them for a worldwide financial crisis is pretty moronic. They might not have handled it very well but no government could magically make the country immune to it, especially when we have relied so heavily on financial services industries.

the difference being they are mostly so incredibly rich that they don’t need to fiddle their expenses as much.

As rich as the millionaire Labour MP who is married to the millionaire author?

the difference being they are mostly so incredibly rich that they don’t need to fiddle their expenses as much.

What, like that poverty-line Tory MP claiming for his moat cleaning expenses?

No Grumm, we wouldn’t have to run to the IMF for bailouts. We would have more money for fiscal stimulus and taxes would not have had to go up. The global crisis was not their fault. The fact the country wasn’t prepared for a downturn was.

bowglie – Member
Personally, I think the approach that some other countries take is far better than the UK. I think it was Sweden or Denmark that took advantage of a downturn in their economy to buy a large apartment block near their parliament. The MP’s are then allocated a flat in the block – if they don’t like this, there’s nothing to stop them renting a flat in the area, but they have to pay out of their own pocket.

Look in to the tale of Dolphin Square…..

Ed Balls was the Chancellors advisor; if they had decided to run a budget surplus when times were good like any decent government would, then wouldn’t be in nearly the kind of mess the country is in at the moment.

Ah, we’ll be OK when Cameron takes the reigns then. Oh…hang on a minute wasn’t he a teasury advisor when ‘black wednesday’ happened?

Persoanlly, I think the problem with the UK’s economy is that it’s completely unbalanced. If we had a more diverse economy with a much stronger manufacturing base our manufactured goods would become more competetive as the value of the pound decreased.

Sadly for all of us, no government in the last 30 years has done anything to reverse the decline of the countries manufacturing base. IME, the contrast between this country and Germany in this respect is so stark. There seems to be a general understanding in Germany that, to be able to have a good education and health service, the country has to make things (cars, engineering products, electrical consumer goods etc.etc) and sell them overseas.

Why on earth we can’t learn some of the better ideas from other European countries, rather than following the American approach is beyond me – ah yes, that’ll be because the American approach is cheaper in the short term.

The latest revelations show a stark contrast between the two main parties with 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.

According to House of Commons records, 14 senior Tories claimed more than £20m for moats, lakes, pools and pool-related paraphernalia, including a retractable helipad and one of those inflatable chairs with the cup holder.

Meanwhile one Tory backbencher claimed more than £300 for eight tons of horse manure which he then tipped into his publicly funded swimming pool because he was ‘a bit bored’.

But taxpayers were last night applauding the Tory extravagance for its aristocratic self-confidence and grandiose ambition.

Julian Cook, from Hatfield, said: “I’m relieved to see that after all these years the Tories can still put on a show. It is nothing less than a masterclass in taking the absolute piss.

“You’ve got these petty, lower-middle class Labour MPs watching their wide-screen television sets and putting plastic covers on their three-piece suites, but it takes the solid brass nuts of an old Tory to claim for moat-widening.”

He added: “If we are going to be governed by utter scum, it should at least be scum with a bit of style.”

According to House of Commons records, 14 senior Tories claimed more than £20m for moats, lakes, pools and pool-related paraphernalia, including a retractable helipad and one of those inflatable chairs with the cup holder.

Meanwhile one Tory backbencher claimed more than £300 for eight tons of horse manure which he then tipped into his publicly funded swimming pool because he was ‘a bit bored’.

Put Alistair Darlings expenses into context eh?!

We’ve all been doped and pacified with easy credit and ‘my house is making loads of money’. Whilst in the background MPs have been manipulating political, financial and legal systems for their own benefit. Its only in the wake of the financial crisis that we have all woken up to it.

The Freedom of info. act has well and truly bit them on the @rse. More than likely designed to gather more info. on us, the public so as to catch us out.

Darling should be sacked. And left with nothing, barred from any position of authority. Just as I or anyone else in any other walk of life would be had we done such a thing. Self serving idiots the lot of ’em! Thats how much contempt they have for the people they are supposed to serve, not even bothered to to be cleaver about it. I don’t care if falsely claimed monies are paid back, that is not the point.

Its only in the wake of the financial crisis that we have all woken up to it.

So if we were all still ringing up £££££££££££££££££££s on credit card bills as our houses trebled in value with every passing day we wouldn’t care would we?

Although you hit the nail on the head with

The Freedom of info. act

That is the reason why we are all up in arms about it.

Ohh and Bowglie – that post to which you refer was a wind up (Daily Mash I assume).

He needs to dye his eyebrows same colour as his hair. He looks like a puppet off thunderbirds. lol.

As my wife said last night…

‘I wonder what colour his pubes are?’

Bless!

Im going out on a limb here, but I have some sympathy for Darling.

IMO I think he’s getting a shoeing where there are many far more deserving turds in the cabinet.

Arguably he is not responsible for the historic failings of the treasury, and obviously the Great Work Of Fiction that was his last budget had all the hallmarks of the polished turd that his predecessor would have had a hand in. He was given a hospital pass in being moved to the treasury.

As for his expenses issue, I can see it being quite a benign error – as I understand it he expensed a 6 monthly service charge payment on his flat which overlapped with his moving into grace and favour accomodation – he charged the full invoice ratehr than apportion it according to his actual residency. There’s been far worse theiving done by both his fellow cabinet as well as the shadow cabinet.

And as for Balls. Well, next to only Martin in my contempt, I consider him the most incompetent*, arrogant, professional politician of the lot. As it happens Im quite happy for him to get what he’s always wanted, No. 11, because it will instigate an even greater blood bath come the general election, not to mention a positively gory rupturing of the Labour party between now and then.

* A level Marking, Further Education building works funding, Tax Credit over payments, etc etc.

Beware demanding higher standards in public life than the population generally apply to themselves, it always ends in tears when you do.

Better to have a proper system of checks and balances in place IMHO, on the same basis that my old man (who was a central London copper), always used to say, “it isn’t against the law to break the law, its against the law to get caught!”

So on that basis what the **** were the Commons Finance people doing passing all this, and whats going to be done about keeping an eye on these beggars in future?

Again, Stoner and I agree….this is not healthy!

So if we were all still ringing up £££££££££££££££££££s on credit card bills as our houses trebled in value with every passing day we wouldn’t care would we?

You’ve rather taken my words on face value. What I was trying to say is that whilst we weren’t looking MPs have (generally) done things through the back door (a fairly apt euphemism thinking about it)! Hoping that we wouldn’t notice. eg the scary advancement of surveillance, the curtailing of rights to protest etc. Not saying that we wouldn’t care, rather I think two years ago when everyone was still drunk on easy credit etc etc there wouldn’t quite have been the outcry that there has been.

I don’t agree TBF – there is nothing better than the average UK citizen likes than some righteous indignation about something. Anything.

If they read the Daily Mail 😀

My vacuous, vain, self centered, celebrity obsessed chavtastic, heavily indebted cousin, for the first time in her life has something to say about politics. Although thats only anecdotal!!

He’s a million times better than Ed Balls, the man who has screwed up everything he’s got his grubby hands on and helped destroy our economy as Gordon’s advisor when he was chancellor

Gordon will be looking for someone that makes him look good. Difficult role to fill, but next to Balls a runny dog turd would look acceptable, and probably will.

“Meanwhile one Tory backbencher claimed more than £300 for eight tons of horse manure which he then tipped into his publicly funded swimming pool because he was ‘a bit bored”

Hey that’s my MP you’re talking about! Hope he gets the push

It’s starting to look like Brown is using the expenses scandal to get shot of the ministers he wanted rid of anyway. I’m beginning to believe that even the occupants of the average Big Brother house would be more capable of running the country than the useless shower of shite we have at the moment.