The Legg report on MPs expenses has just been published and most of the MPs with the biggest amount to pay back are Tories. The Press Association says

“ The largest sums ordered to be repaid by sitting MPs - after appeals are taken into account - were £42,458 by Barbara Follett (Lab, Stevenage), £36,909 by Bernard Jenkin (Con, North Essex), £31,193 by Andrew Mackay (Con, Bracknell), £29,398 by John Gummer (Con, Suffolk Coastal), £29,243 by Julie Kirkbride (Con, Bromsgrove) and £24,878 by Liam Fox (Con, Woodspring).”

So of the top 6 worst offenders 5 were Tories. I’ve always wondered how Cameron has managed to spin that this is more of a Labour issue when it is obvious that the Tories have some of the worst examples of troughing, swimming pools, moats duck houses etc.

Tory MP Anthony Steen claimed for “a flagpole rope and binding”!

The bus that was put on to replace the 28 is being changed again to provide a connection to Knaphill and Sainbury’s as well as Waitrose. The bus will leave the station at 15 minutes past the hour from 0915 to 1415, arriving at the Crown at 22 mins past. It will then continue onto Waitrose, Knaphill and Sainbury’s. The 1415 terminates in Horsell.

Coming back the bus leaves Sainsbury’s at 45 mins past and Waitrose at 57 mins past, leaving Horsell for the station at 2 mins past. The full timetable is here .

Don’t forget there is an hourly service no 73 from the Station to Chobham and return, via Well Lane, Ormonde Road, Meadway Drive and Woking High School. The bus also runs hourly through the evening from the station with the last one at 2232. The timetable is here.

Just noticed that the evening timetable is not on the SCC website. The bus leaves town at 1932, 2032, 2132, and 2232 arriving at the Crown 7 minutes later. It returns to town via Ormonde Road and Well Lane.

Time to get back in the swing especially with an election coming up.

The weather has produced chaos all over Woking and Surrey. I’ll cover that later, but more importantly, I’ve learned that the black bins in my part of Horsell are going to be emptied tomorrow, Saturday, for the first time since 23rd December! Hooray. Well done Woking Borough Council (not). So if your bin is normally emptied on Wednesday get it out there now!

Hundreds of people came together at last Thursday’s Vote for a Change rally to send Parliament that message - and it came through loud and clear.

We’re through with waiting for our politicians to stop letting us down. We’re done hoping for our broken political system to right itself.

We’re fighting for change, and a true say in who represents us in Parliament - starting now.

Take a look at the video, which was launched at the rally - then send it to a friend to spread the word about our campaign:

http://bit.ly/17xOON

But last Thursday was just the beginning of our fight to fix Parliament - and the clock’s ticking for us to make it happen.

We’ve got an historic opportunity to change our political system to give voters a real voice, but it won’t be open long. We’ve got until November 5th to persuade politicians to hold a referendum on the way we elect our MPs.

We can’t waste a moment in building momentum for real reform, and for putting pressure on our leaders to take action.

Help build that momentum now by sharing our campaign video with a friend:

http://bit.ly/17xOON

Thank you again for all your support.

I really don’t know how the Tories are getting away with all this sleaze. Another senior Tory caught with his hand in the till. This time one of Boris’s mates.

“Prior to the discrepancies coming to Johnson’s attention, eyebrows had already been raised by members of the London assembly over receipts relating to Clement’s business claims, which were published last week, including £2,400 for upgrades to business class for two flights to the Beijing Olympics last summer – while the mayor himself flew economy class – and a number of dinners with Tory colleagues from local government, City Hall, and Westminster.

But it later emerged that some of the Tory colleagues noted down were not actually present for the meals, while others insisted they had no idea that the lunch had been paid for with taxpayers’ money.

It is believed that in at least two instances Clement used the credit card to entertain 23-year-old Claire Dowson, a Conservative party agent. Dowson was not available for comment.

The office of Merrick Cockell, the leader of Kensington and Chelsea council, confirmed that he did not have dinner with Clement at the Mayflower Chinese Restaurant on 6 November, as claimed by the former deputy mayor in his expenses.

Clement also claimed he had lunch with Michael Rye, the leader of Enfield council. But Rye said the meal simply “did not take place”. “He was with me in Enfield that day. I saw him off at our civic centre in his Jag and that was the last I saw of him – before 12 o’clock.”

Full story here

Thanks to all who voted for me last Thursday. As expected I lost, but it wasn’t a bad result. When I won in 2005 it was because many Tories voted for me because of my opposition to County Hall on Brewery Road car park. The County division includes Horsell East and Woodham which is solidly Tory no matter what. In Horsell West, where it is always neck and neck between Lib Dems and Tories it looked like we won. This bodes well for the Borough Council elections next year and of course the General Election.

The result was

John Doran 1506

Ben Carasco (Con) 2265

UKIP 474

Labour 180

Thanks again.

If you want to know why the Tories cannot address the problem of pigs’ snouts, troughs etc don’t just look at Humfrey Malins, ex Horsell resident Sir John Butterfill, Horsell councillor Anne Murray, Chobham MP Michael Gove, or the Tory Executive of Surrey County Council including the £35,000 claimed by the lady who is responsible for the appalling childrens’ service scandal and SCC’s one star rating Dorothy Mitchell, just look at this interview with Paxman and William Hague last night. He can’t answer the question because Ashcroft is one of the the biggest donors to the Tory party and almost literally bought his peerage.

Absolutely knackered. Must have walked a couple of hundred miles in the last few weeks. Wish I was like my opponent and had a full time job while all the little old ladies go out delivering. Anyway only 24 hours to go.

Polly Toynbee in yesterday’s Guardian says this

“Surrey county council deserves the boot on virtually every measure, but don’t hold your breath for voter justice. Ofsted marks this Tory council as one of the four worst for its treatment of vulnerable children. It has most children expelled from school and failed inspection on adult education due to underfunding. Its care services for the elderly are assessed as barely adequate. But its voters will ignore all that, yet again.”

“….vote whichever decent party locally can best hold the floodgates against a blue wipeout.”

The article is titled, “Throw out bad councils, and vote for Lib Dems in Europe.”

Thanks Polly we’ll try to oblige.