Ton up on MPs employing relatives?
- 31 Jan 08, 12:10 PM
Much speculation at Westminster over how the Sunday Times originally managed to finger Derek Conway in the first place. Their , on 27 May 2007, not only specified how much he was paying his son Freddie, but also managed to quote how much three other MPs were paying their wives to work as staff - , and .
Many Tory MPs think the Sunday Times must have had a mole inside the Fees Office, the Commons department which pays MPs staff. But there's another theory. Notice that the four MPs named by the Sunday Times had names starting with A, B or C? Perhaps someone in the Fees Office simply left a sheet of paper of MPs 'A to C' on a photocopier, or some similar mishap. Stranger things have happened.
Jeremy Paxman was sceptical last night about my suggestion on the programme that as many as 100 MPs could be employing relatives of one kind or another. The Daily Mail has a who do so, and just from memory I can add three others. So my estimate of up to 100 in all may not be as ludicrous as Jeremy seemed to think. A Sunday newspaper is doing a big survey, and the Tory whips have told their MPs to cooperate, so we may get a better picture this weekend.
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HONORABLE MEMBERS
How many rotten apples does it take to change a barrel? It isnβt the apples is it β it's the barrel itself. Any good apple wandering into that place either leaves in short order or rots down to an even consistency with the rest. The constant repetition of βhonourableβ by a bunch of line-toeing, dogma-bleating, tri-coloured sheep tells us all we need to know about the basic (very basic) politician. Honour is hardly the most overt attribute of Wesminsterβs finest. If the day ever comes when we are governed by those of integrity, dignity and honour, Britain will be a very different place.
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I love the idea of finding page 1 or the records and reporting on the As Bs and Cs!
So we are opening the can of worms? I bet there is some real wriggling going on in Westminster.
It was interesting that no mention was made at PMQs...a little extract from my own blog
"The elephant in the room today was MP's expenses. Not so much an elephant in the room as a skunk in the House leaving a stench wherever it goes. Both leaders smell it but my cynical side says they want to ignore it as I suspect both sides of the house are happy about the current situation regarding expenses."
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