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”!

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

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.

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!

Woking’s Tory MP is one of the latest to be exposed by the Daily Telegraph for claiming expenses on a second home while his children lived there. The link is here.

Its a shame Mr Malins couldn’t have had his first or second home in Woking. He has lived in Dorking all the time he has been our MP.

Michael Gove a Tory frontbencher was criticised in the first batch of stories for “flipping” his house. He’s now being accused of using his expenses to fund his local Tory party. See the full story in the News and Mail.

Nick Clegg has launched a plan to lock MPs in parliamnet over the summer and give them 100 days to sort out the mess.

“Britain’s politicians should be barred from taking their summer holidays until the constitutional crisis sparked by the expenses row is resolved and “every nook and cranny” of the political system is reformed, Nick Clegg declares today.In a provocative Guardian article, the Liberal Democrat leader outlines a 100-day action plan to transform MPs’ expenses and accelerate the constitutional reforms started in 1997 by Tony Blair.

“Let us bar the gates of Westminster and stop MPs leaving for their summer holidays until this crisis has been sorted out,” Clegg writes in the latest high-profile contribution to the Guardian’s New Politics series.

“I’m setting out a plan of action to get all the changes we need delivered in just 100 days – making it possible for MPs to be sacked by their constituents, abolishing the House of Lords, getting corrupt money out of politics and changing the electoral system to give a voice to everyone.”

If you’d like to sign Nick’s petition please click on the “Take back Power” icon to the left.

Just when you think the MPs expenses thing can’t get any worse you get unbelievable guys like this Tory MP. People are “jealous”! And what right have people to interfere in his private life. Sorry mate but you’re spending our taxes. And its all the fault of Freedom of Information. Of course it would be much better kept secret.

You couldn’t make it up!

The expenses for SCC councillors have been published today and will be on the SCC website later. As I explained on a previous post, my expenses were for a visit to a sustainable development conference in Liverpool. I have not claimed the travel expenses I am entitled to and pleased to see even with the conference stuff in there I came out as one of the lowest claimants.

Last year I was joint lowest in claims. Click on this link.

Members Expenses 2008/9

Like everyone else I am open mouthed in amazement with what is going on in parliament. In my 4 years as a councillor I have not claimed the expenses I am entitled to. It costs me about £13 in train and bus fares every time I go to Kingston and I have never claimed it. The only expenses I have claimed are for attendance at conferences or seminars. The biggest of these was a 3 day Local Government Association conference on sustainable development last year in Liverpool.This conference was pretty dull and I won’t be going again.

All County Councillors get about £11,500 pa for their services and for me that is enough to cover my travel as well, but I do know some colleagues rely on this money to pay bills.

It is clear to me that if you are spending taxpayer’s money you need to be whiter than white, but it seem some of our MPs haven’t understood that. I take small comfort from the fact that the Lib Dems seem to be the cleanest of all the parties in this shameful affair.