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.

Some unbelievable support for us in today’s Observer. First from Andrew Rawnsley.

“Only one of the main parties has been a consistent and persistent advocate of a democratised House of Lords, a reformed Commons, fixed-term parliaments and the rest of the menu of truly sweeping constitutional reform. That party is the Liberal Democrats. They have also, incidentally, come out of the expenses scandal much less sleazed than either Labour or the Tories. Of course, it is self-serving of the Lib Dems to want voting reform. A more proportional system would almost certainly give Nick Clegg a larger - that is to say, fairer - number of MPs. Precisely because they stand to gain, we can rely on the Lib Dems to remain committed to reform long after the expenses scandal has faded from the headlines.

This is not an endorsement of the Lib Dems. It is simply an observation, which perhaps makes the point more powerfully. If you want to maximise the chances of securing serious constitutional reform, then the party to vote for is the Lib Dems.”

The full article is here

And then from their editorial

“There is a pressing need in this country for advocacy of the EU as a good in itself, as opposed to something distasteful that occasionally suits our interests. That view does not preclude criticism of European institutions, but it eschews wrecking tactics against them.Nick Clegg is the most instinctively European leader at Westminster. That is currently a lonely position, but the Lib Dems have a decent record of taking minority stands that are later vindicated. On the environment, on civil liberties and on the mounting debt bubble, the Lib Dems were quietly but consistently ahead of the Westminster curve.

Likewise on transparency. In 2007, they opposed the Conservative move, tacitly encouraged by Labour, to exempt Parliament from the Freedom of Information Act. The Lib Dems alone took a party line for openness.

and
“While MPs from all parties are tainted, the parties themselves are not equally guilty. A credible record of support for transparency and for constitutional reform reflects well on Nick Clegg’s team.

This Thursday’s vote is being held in a uniquely febrile climate. It should be about Europe; it will be about the expenses scandal. On both counts, it is a moment to reward the principled consistency of the Liberal Democrats.

Full article here.

This blog is becoming a bit of a Tory sleaze rag but if you are presented with an open goal, you have to score. As most of you will know Surrey has been marked as one of the worst councils in the country because of problems with the children’s service. Well blow me down, who has claimed the most expenses after the Leader Nick Skellett, Exec member for Children’s Services Dorothy Mitchell. Dorothy claimed £35,003.

Worth every penny I’d say. Hope she can rest comfortably knowing many people in the service had no Criminal Records Bureau checks while looking after vulnerable children.

The full expenses are here. As I said below, I normally don’t claim any travel expenses. The extra expenses on this list were for attending a Local Government Association conference in Liverpool last March and claimed in April. Even with that I was one of the lowest claimants with more than 60 members claiming more than me.

By the way my colleague Diana Smith is our spokesperson for Children and has acres on this issue on her blog.

Hope Steve Bell of the Guardian will forgive me for nicking his cartoon.

I must admit I am finding it really hard to keep up with all the unbelievable stories about local Tories. Former leader of Woking Borough Anne Murray has been accused of questionable conduct concerning attendance of a conference. Link here.

Anyway  Anne congrats on your recent marriage to fellow Horsell East councillor Mike Smith.

Sorry, just a little laugh but I just checked the local Tories website and they have one of their councillors down as representing the wrong ward. Wonder how long it will be before they notice?

psst, Don’t tell anyone but I know they are monitoring this site, so now they have a dilemma, change it quickly and demonstrate that they are fond of my site or leave it and show they don’t even know what their own people are doing. Probably filling in expenses claims.

You couldn’t make up some of this stuff! Sir John Butterfill the MP for Bournemouth West, who made £600k when he sold his Horsell home (its on Littlewick Road) said ” The one mistake I made was that in claiming interest on the home, I didn’t separate from that the value of the servants, or the staff, wing.” Link here Link to the Telegraph story.

By the way if you are looking for it (its called Little Heath) on Google Earth, they have the wrong house. You can easily spot it though its the one just to the right with swimming pool and tennis court!