Dirty Cheating Politicans

[Flynny]

It's not just Tories, there's just a rash of Tory ones coming to light at the minute just as there was a run of Labour MP's implicated in this kind of thing a month or two ago. They've all been at it practically. The system will be rejigged and this won't be allowed to happen again.

As for some using an increasingly shrill, opinion-based, scaremongering media as a basis to suggest that society itself is coming apart at the seams - utter bollocks.

[Daggers]

The system will be rejigged and this won't be allowed to happen again.

I wish I had your faith in that - here's a piece from the New York Times about the sale of peerages. Nothing to do with Blair's market stall, it's from 1907.

[Zingari]

a few more Tories in the spotlight

John Purvis claimed up to £1MILLION to pay staff in his own firm. He has been paying £4,000 a month of allowances into Purvis and Co for up to 14 years.

Sir Robert Atkins, 62, a minister in the Thatcher and Major Governments, used taxpayers’ money to fly to his son’s wedding in America.

He claimed about £2,500 to go on a four-day “fact-finding mission” at the invitation of the US Republican Party.

MEP Sajjad Karim also faces questions after paying his wife Zahida £26,000 a year of taxpayers’ cash.

Meanwhile shadow business secretary Alan Duncan is under pressure to explain a £160,000 donation from oil tycoon Ian Taylor.

[davieG]

We must all be members of the Monster Raving Loonies to have allowed these cheating arseholes into positions of power.

No doubt they'd be the first to suggest it's benefit cheats that are bringing the country to it's knees.

[Zingari]

We must all be members of the Monster Raving Loonies to have allowed these cheating arseholes into positions of power.

No doubt they'd be the first to suggest it's benefit cheats that are bringing the country to it's knees.

Agreed ; but its still a credit to our democracy that they are at least getting found out .

no doubt that there is as much corruption in all corridors of power around the globe that goes undetected

[davieG]

Agreed ; but its still a credit to our democracy that they are at least getting found out .

no doubt that there is as much corruption in all corridors of power around the globe that goes undetected

They're are trying their hardest to come up with schemes to prevent detection though and no one can stop them doing so because they are all in it together.

[Zingari]

They're are trying their hardest to come up with schemes to prevent detection though and no one can stop them doing so because they are all in it together.

thats why i'm grateful a few are getting caught ; the media (and the rest of us) are being forced to be more vigilant

a good democracy needs us to be vigilant ,and thats why i'm quite grateful to our newspapers , tv news and "chandlers" etc to keep us on guard about what may be going on under our noses

if no politicians were being caught with fingers in tills occasionally i would be more concerned

[Daggers]

I fail to see how knowing they are up to no good benefits us as opposed to not knowing?

We know they have been taking cash for questions, bowing to interest groups, pocketing expenses and riding that gravy train for over one hundred years...how is that better than living in a state of ignorance? None of it has stopped.

[Zingari]

I fail to see how knowing they are up to no good benefits us as opposed to not knowing?

We know they have been taking cash for questions, bowing to interest groups, pocketing expenses and riding that gravy train for over one hundred years...how is that better than living in a state of ignorance? None of it has stopped.

because if we know about it , we ( or at least someone) can try to do something about it

i would have thought that it was quite obvious .

[Daggers]

i would have thought that it was quite obvious .

Made **** all difference to date, eh?

[Zingari]

Made **** all difference to date, eh?

i'm not so sure really ;

a few have been jailed , ( archer aitken etc )

in all walks of life there are the few that will feel above the law and try to screw the system, and we can only try to weed them out occasionally

its an ongoing situation, like all forms of corruption and crime and there will never be an end to it, but we should just try to keep on top of it and be grateful to those that uncover the wrongdoers

eg

people still drink and drive regardless of knowing the consequences ; we don't say "drink/drive laws made feck all difference" we have to keep on trying

they do say ignorance is bliss though ; so i should be well ecstatic

[Daggers]

i'm not so sure really ;

a few have been jailed , ( archer aitken etc )

Both of your examples were jailed as a result of being found guilty of perjury and perverting the course of justice following on from their respective libel actions against the media - neither were jailed following on from any abuse of their position despite their being some considerable evidence to the contrary.

Any others?

[davieG]

From the BBC

To added to the list:

But it's alright it was unwittingly they don't own it as it's in a trust for which they are the trustees!!

Sir Nicholas and Ann Winterton unwittingly broke MPs' expenses rules when claiming for a second home, the Parliamentary standards watchdog said.

Commissioner John Lyon criticised the husband and wife Tory MPs for not keeping up with rule changes in 2006.

The Wintertons say they did nothing wrong by using expenses for a flat, even though they had paid the mortgage.

But the Standards and Privileges Committee says the arrangement should not have continued as long as it did.

The Wintertons transferred their second home - a flat in London - to a trust, to which they paid rent of £21,600 per year.

They said they had agreed the arrangement with the Commons Fees Office at the time it was set up and would not have gone ahead unless this had been the case.

'Personal interest'

The Wintertons, who both represent constituencies in Cheshire, say they had followed advice from their solicitor and accountants about their likely inheritance tax liability.

They said they no longer owned the flat but were obliged by the trust to pay the full market rent recommended by an independent valuer.

But the standards committee report said the family trust, which had become the Wintertons' landlord in February 2002 when the property was transferred, "was an organisation in which they had an interest (as trustees) and their children had an interest (as the beneficiaries)".

And it adds: "Given their substantial personal interest in the arrangements, it would therefore have been prudent for the Wintertons, once having gone ahead with the arrangements, to have checked to ensure that charging the rent to the ACA remained consistent with the rules, particularly when these were changed."

The committee said that in its view the Wintertons' arrangements "have been in breach of the rules applying to the Additional Cost Allowance (governing second homes) since July 2006, a fact of which they were officially made aware in February 2007".

And it said it was also concerned "about the length of time their arrangements had been allowed to continue" after the rules changed.

"This should have been addressed at an earlier stage," the standards committee says in its report.

An MPs' committee headed up by Speaker Michael Martin is reviewing the whole expenses system - in the wake of the case of Derek Conway, a Conservative MP who was reprimanded for the amount he had paid his son to work as a Parliamentary researcher.

[Daggers]

Oh - well that's alright then.

But if that is now an acceptable excuse I'm just off to unwittingly kill some people associated with my club.

[Dr The Singh]

Oh - well that's alright then.

But if that is now an acceptable excuse I'm just off to unwittingly kill some people associated with my club.

This is nothing, compare it to India where the largest political parties (Congress) who are in power, active wing (Shiv Sena) can openly ask hindus to become suicide bombers and get away with it!!! These guys have offices\dept all over the country, they are well funded and are often used to propogate state terror as a 'third party', compared with our politicians nicking some cash (which I agree is wrong), but the use of state funds to fund such terrorists within it's borders is really criminal!!!

From Tribune Newspaper!!!

'Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray has landed in yet another controversy by calling for Hindu suicide squads to take on Islamic extremists. Thackeray’s comments in the party mouthpiece Saamna came a day after the anti-terror squad of the Mumbai Police arrested members of a Hindu religious sect for setting off explosives in a playhouse screening a Marathi drama.

Hailing the spirit behind the setting off of explosives, Thackeray hit out at the bomb makers saying their act only resulted in seven Hindus suffering injuries in the blast. “When I heard of Hindu’s making bombs, I was happy but the fact that there were used to injure Hindus made me feel ashamed of them.”

The protesters belonging to an organisation called the Hindu Jangruti Samiti said they were objecting to the portrayal of the Hindus in the play called “Amhi Pachpute”. They were also opposed to the movie “Jodha Akbar”.

While two bombs were defused, one device went off in a theatre. While the actions of this group resulted in security being beefed up in many places, Thackeray hailed the bomb makers. “The only way Islamic terror can be tackled was by unleashing Hindu terror. Hindu society can be assured safety only by setting up Hindu suicide squads,” Thackeray wrote.'

[Hullfox]

Wendy Alexander

Ed Balls

[Daggers]

Wendy Alexander

You would though, wouldn't you.

[Hullfox]

You would though, wouldn't you.

I have

[Dr The Singh]

I have

Lucky git!!

[Daggers]

There are so few politicians of whom I hold any respect - but Ingrid Betancour is one. A person of stunning fortitude and conviction who was stitched up by her government and made to suffer by the hije putas who kidnapped her.

I hope this signifies a long overdue stride towards peace for a beautiful country and a wonderful collection of friends.

Tis a very good day

[Daggers]

Ray Lewis

Typical politician or typical priest? The choice, as it used to say on Blind Date, is yours...

[Raj]

I'm alright Jack...fcuk the rest of the paupers.....

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7486612.stm

[Dr The Singh]

I'm alright Jack...fcuk the rest of the paupers.....

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7486612.stm

I was watching the news (not naked news) and I can't beleive the british public isn't in outrage, in any other nation there would be mass protest etc., how they can get away with it, god knows!!!

[Raj]

I was watching the news (not naked news) and I can't beleive the british public isn't in outrage, in any other nation there would be mass protest etc., how they can get away with it, god knows!!!

yah....bit funny how they arent showing it MORE on the news!!!

Probably been 'told nicely' not to!!!

[davieG]

Watchdog set to probe MP expenses

Sir Christopher Kelly had questioned whether the new rules went far enough The committee on standards in public life is considering its own inquiry into MPs' expenses, the BBC understands.

Sources have indicated that its chairman Sir Christopher Kelly is minded to press for an inquiry.

An MPs' committee carried out a five month inquiry, but their proposals were rejected in a Commons vote on Thursday.

Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg says he will submit his MPs' expenses to independent spot checks, regardless of the vote.

Mr Clegg said the party would work with the Institute of Chartered Accountants to draw up detailed proposals on how it would work.

And he said his frontbench team would begin publishing quarterly breakdowns of their expenses claims.

He said: "The Liberal Democrats will now implement as many of the recommendations as we can to tighten up the rules on MPs' expenses - particularly those relating to spot checks of MPs' expense claims."

"I hope that Gordon Brown and David Cameron will join me in implementing these measures so that together we can begin to restore public confidence in politicians after what has been a very damaging week."

Neither Mr Clegg nor Mr Brown were in the Commons for the vote as both were at meetings, however no Lib Dems MPs voted to keep the system as it was.

The BBC understands an inquiry by the committee on standards in public life - set up to monitor standards in public life as a response to perceptions of "sleaze" in government and public affairs - would extend beyond the housing allowance and cover all MPs' expenses.

Its chairman, Sir Christopher, has previously said he was "baffled" MPs thought it appropriate to carry out their own review and has said he would launch his own inquiry if it did not address public concerns.

And last week he warned MPs that the reforms suggested by the Members Estimate Committee - thrown out by MPs on Thursday - may not go far enough.

Ministers vote

On Thursday MPs voted by a majority of 28 to retain the additional costs allowance - used to fund MPs' second homes - and to have their spending looked at only by internal, rather than external, auditors.

More than half of the 646 MPs did not take part in the contentious vote. Of the 172 who voted to keep the old system of allowances, subjected to internal audits, 146 were Labour MPs, of which 33 were government ministers.

I was not happy with what happened. I am very disappointed about the vote

Gordon Brown The shadow cabinet voted for the reforms and Conservative leader David Cameron earlier criticised Gordon Brown for not turning up to the vote.

He said the Conservatives had been in favour of reform and transparency while the government "was basically saying 'let's be against reform, let's keep the John Lewis list and let's not sort this out'".

He added: "And it was extraordinary that the prime minister chose not to come and vote. And now he says, apparently, he's disappointed with the result. Well if he was disappointed, why didn't he vote?

"Why was it that his whips were pointing people into the wrong voting lobby?"

Mr Brown's spokesman said he had been in meetings and had been updated with the progress of the debate and denied he had "ducked" the vote.

The prime minister told the BBC later he also thought the issue needed revisiting.

"I was not happy with what happened. I am very disappointed about the vote," he said.

"We voted to keep the pay of Members of Parliament down below some of the settlements in the public sector but we've got to look at the issue of transparency and accountability and expenses again.

"I'm disappointed but I believe we can make progress again."