OK then.....MPs expensives....

[InsaneApache]

Recent precedent is a wonderful tool for enabling us to learn from our mistakes and so avoid repeating them, but the converse is that its absence will inevitably lead now and again to unforeseeable embarrassment.

Take this business of MPs renting out flats they own, in several cases to each other, while reclaiming the rent they pay on properties they lease. Technically, this breaches no rules, which is spiffing. One might point out that calling a policeman a pleb equally breaks no formal rule, although it may do little for the career prospects of anyone allegedly overheard saying it. Appearances can be at least as important as the rigorous observation of the rule book, in other words, and this does not look pretty.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/news...hey-claim.html

Cheating, thieving bastards are at it again!

They wonder why we loath them so much.

[Philippus Flavius Homovallumus]

Excellent thread necromancy - I don't want to be tart but Bercow is another Labour-anointed Speaker.

Just abolish expenses - I'd rather be ruled by the rich than thieving "common" men who use politics to make themselves rich. The end result is the same, so why involve the tax-payer?

[InsaneApache]

Mr. Denis Matyjaszek seems to be in a spot of bother.

Thieving bastard.

[Ja'chyra]

Why don't we just give them mess rooms in Army barracks in London, then they can Pay as You Dine the same as the Army, it's a win win for everyone, they get a bed and some good food, we save a fortune. Security costs go down as Army camps are already guarded, they get a dose of realism, and best of all the GSM can stop them from getting involved in drunken brawls.

[InsaneApache]

Sounds like a good idea. Except I'd just put the lot in gaol.

Former Labour minister Denis MacShane is facing suspension from the Commons for 12-months.

A Parliamentary committee found he had submitted 19 false invoices which were "plainly intended to deceive" Parliament's expenses authority.

The committee said it was the "gravest case" which has come to them for adjudication.

Mr MacShane, who has been suspended from the Labour Party, said he was "shocked and saddened" by the move.

The MP for Rotherham had been suspended from the Labour party while police investigated his expenses claims, but he had the whip reinstated when the criminal inquiry was dropped.

The committee's report described Mr MacShane's false claims as "far from what would be acceptable in any walk of life" and "fell far below the standards of integrity and probity expected of every member of the House".

The false invoices related to work Mr MacShane carried out in Europe and he was particularly criticised for his use of public money for European travel.

The Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards said the "real mischief" of Mr MacShane's actions was submitting invoices that bypassed the "checks and controls" of the House and "enabled Mr MacShane to spend public money as he thought fit".

In a statement on his website, Mr MacShane said: "Clearly I deeply regret that the way I chose to be reimbursed for costs related to my work in Europe and in combating anti-semitism, including being the prime minister's personal envoy, has been judged so harshly.

"I remain committed to work for progressive values, for Britain playing a full part in Europe, and for combating anti-semitism even though I can no longer undertake this work as a Labour MP.

"I am consulting family and friends as I consider my position and study the full implications of the report.

"I am obviously desperately sorry for any embarrassment I have caused my beloved Labour Party and its leader Ed Miliband whom I greatly admire."

Fraud, I think thats what they call it.