Tag Archives: expenses
Coleman is wrong on expenses
A blog post by Evening Standard journalist Paul Waugh caught my eye, in which Brian Coleman, Conservative Assembly member for Barnet and Camden allegedly refuses to publish his expenses. Much as I would want to avoid disagreeing with a fellow Conservative, some of his comments are astounding. For a start the assertion that “Politicians with [...]
Does the Speaker’s resignation really matter?
As someone who could be called a political blogger I should have an opinion on it. Fact is, I don’t. Not much of one, anyway. But as a political blogger it is my right, if not my duty, to drag my tendentious non-opinions out for a few hundred words. And my opinion is that it [...]
MPs’ expenses – what can Dave teach us?
The whole expenses saga has me yearning for Dave Nellist. Nellist was a left-wing Labour MP, deselected by his party for the 1992 election for being too left-wing. One of his trademark policies was to only take the average wage of a worker in his constituency rather than the full MP’s salary. As a Conservative [...]
Mr Jacqui Smith’s expenses
I’ve tried to resist, I really have. But I can’t help but post on Jacqui Smith submitting a claim for her husband’s porn. But it’s just too good a story to let pass by. And it isn’t just a case of taking the high moral ground, although I did oppose the government’s attempt to conceal [...]
Freedom of Information, MPs’ expenses and good government
The whole episode of MPs’ expenses has been an interesting one, many will concentrate on the government’s reaction, which has been a typical Brownite dither, bottle it, try and blame the Tories. What I think is more interesting, though, was the initial attitude. Having passed the Freedom of Information Act, the government then decided it [...]
