Tory corruption & sleaze (lobbying, second jobs, dodgy contracts etc)

[Monitor Gold 10]

At the beginning of the MPs' expenses scandal, The Daily Telegraph reported that Rosindell "claimed more than £125,000 in second home expenses for a flat in London, while designating his childhood home 17 miles away – where his mother lived – as his main address" and between "2006 and 2008 claimed the maximum £400 a month for food".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Rosindell#Parliamentary_expenses

Why do MPs even get to claim for food? My employer doesn't reimburse me for my £3.50 Co-Op Meal Deal.

Good point. And what do we get for all that? In any other setting, we'd expect value for money.

So what do they actually do to earn these privelidges?

I understand the need for security costs and cost for running their offices. Not so sure about some of the expenses...

 

[Seeker_UK]

So what do they actually do to earn these privelidges?

Provide access, influence, contacts and a name to put on your letterheads.

 

[Mullardman]

Great fun seeing the Speaker of the House growing a pair and ordering Doris to sit down and shut up.
Beyond the comedy, I really hope this is the beginning of a wider recognition that Parliament is the supreme body in the UK

 

[Tony L]

Geordie Greig, the editor of the Daily Mail, who to the surprise/astonishment of many of us actually stood up to the gross corruption and trough-feeding of Paterson, Cox etc has just been sacked by Rothermere (Guardian). I guess this represents a blip and we’ll be back to the Mail’s traditional Der Stürmer-clone worldview.

 

[TheDecameron]

Geordie Greig, the editor of the Daily Mail, who to the surprise/astonishment of many of us actually stood up to the gross corruption and trough-feeding of Paterson, Cox etc has just been sacked by Rothermere (Guardian). I guess this represents a blip and we’ll be back to the Mail’s traditional Der Stürmer-clone worldview.

Non-Dom Rothermere is trying to take the Mail back into private ownership.Viscount Sleaze of Nuremberg.

 

[wacko]

Geordie Greig, the editor of the Daily Mail, who to the surprise/astonishment of many of us actually stood up to the gross corruption and trough-feeding of Paterson, Cox etc has just been sacked by Rothermere (Guardian). I guess this represents a blip and we’ll be back to the Mail’s traditional Der Stürmer-clone worldview.

Didn't take long for BJ to ask Rothermere to remove him.

 

[TheDecameron]

Didn't take long for BJ to ask Rothermere to remove him.

What’s in it for Rothermere? The DM is run through all sorts of off shore shell companies and Rothermere doesn’t personally pay tax here but it will be something to do with money.

 

[Spraggons Den]

I have been looking on line at the expense claims of some choice MPs such as my own (Jo Churchill), Liz Truss (where I work), the leaders of the opposition parties (Starmer/Daley/Blackford) and JRM/Chope (for shits and giggles) - the feature that most stands out is staffing costs of between 100k to 150k per annum for all of them up until 2020 when they suddenly go down between nowt and a few grand.

Anyone know the reason for this abrupt change?

 

[Bob McC]

They were stopped from employing wives as staff.

 

[Spraggons Den]

They were stopped from employing wives as staff.

Fair point but surely they would still require an Office Manager and a PA/Secretary who, although no longer their spouse, requires remuneration in the form of money which would ultimately be claimed as an MPs staffing cost via expenses.

 

[gavreid]

Fair point but surely they would still require an Office Manager and a PA/Secretary who, although no longer their spouse, requires remuneration in the form of money which would ultimately be claimed as an MPs staffing cost via expenses.

Clearly there is a democratic need for MPs to have some paid support, and office facilities away from Westminster, but this should all have been tightened up years ago - paying it through a personal expenses system just doesn't feel right - even were it to be well controlled. I can see how that system might have evolved from having someone at home who helped out, maybe with a dedicated room in the house, a second telephone line and a bit of equipment, but MPs haven't operated like that for yonks. I'm really surprised that HMRC has allowed it all to go on. The money mustn't be available to the MP to pocket - or for it to be perceived that way.

 

[Spraggons Den]

They were stopped from employing wives as staff.

If that was the reason for the sudden reduction, then the whole situation looks even more suspicious.

 

[Tony L]

If that was the reason for the sudden reduction, then the whole situation looks even more suspicious.

Nadine Dorries was well known for employing both her daughters on absurd wages at our expense, IIRC about £80k between them for part-time work. So many Tories really are trough-feeding scum. They steal the money we give in good faith for infrastructure and public services and stick it in their own pockets. A criminal entity.

 

[Tony L]

Grant Shapps-Fox-Green now linked to PPE contract corruption, I’ve posted an update in the Good Law Project thread here. As ever please consider donating to them as they are doing all that can be done to keep this shower of thieving shit honest.

 

[kensalriser]

They were stopped from employing wives as staff.

What about husbands?

 

[Bob McC]

The ban was family employment.

 

[Spraggons Den]

They were stopped from employing wives as staff.

Oh no they weren't. This is from the current IPSCs expenses guide:

It states:

IPSA will not pay the salaries and other costs set out in paragraph 7.4a of any new employees who are connected parties and are employed on or after 9 June 2017.

But it also says:

Staffing costs may only be claimed for the salary of one employee who is a connected party (subject to paragraphs 3.23 and 3.24), unless the MP already employed more than one connected party on 7 May 2010. In that case the MP may continue to claim for the salaries of those connected parties.


So an MP can continue to employ their spouse providing they were employed before June 2017 and indeed they could continue to employ the entire family if they had been taken on before May 2010. It's the late arrivals to the cash cow who are not entitled to gorge themselves. Of course, the usual suspects have been MPs for decades so they can carry on paying their other half up to 45k as an Administrator outside London or 48k in the capital. Nice work if you can get it.

 

[Nick_G]

Grant Shapps-Fox-Green now linked to PPE contract corruption, I’ve posted an update in the Good Law Project thread here. As ever please consider donating to them as they are doing all that can be done to keep this shower of thieving shit honest.

Did you know that if you write 'Shapps' in Cyrillic it comes out looking like 'Wannc'? I suppose that makes him a Wanncer.

 

[Dogberry]

Did you know that if you write 'Shapps' in Cyrillic it comes out looking like 'Wannc'? I suppose that makes him a Wanncer.

How do you get that?Show me the Cyrillic пожалуйста.

 

[Rob998]

How do you get that?Show me the Cyrillic пожалуйста.