Archive for mps expenses
Do CCHQ staff have to bring their own toilet paper in to work?
I only ask, you see, because earlier today the Conservative Party’s press team decided to highlight the fact that a Labour MP, Chuka Umunna, claimed £43.12 for “soap, toilet roll etc”. Well, the claim was for his office where staff work. So quite why would someone want to pick on an employer providing toilet roll [...]
Press Complaints Commission upholds MP’s complaint over expense reporting
Here’s the main part of the ruling against the East Kilbride News: The complaint was made by the MP for East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow, Michael McCann. The article related to his Parliamentary expenses, which had been published following the release of the figures by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA). Mr McCann argued that [...]
Former Labour MP sues Sunday Telegraph over expenses story
The Press Gazette reports: Former Labour backbench MP Frank Cook has filed a libel writ against the Sunday Telegraph over a front-page story from May 2009 about his expenses. He is demanding damages of up to £50,000 from publishers Telegraph Media Group over a front page story and two inside pieces in May 2009 in [...]
Nadine Dorries: expense claims questioned in Sunday Times
Welcome shortly to the new Parliament, where not everything has changed:
NADINE DORRIES, the Conservative MP, faces the first expenses complaint of the new parliament after a row about a £10,000 claim she paid to a friend’s company.
Her former Commons researcher, Peter Hand, is writing to John Lyon, the parliamentary commissioner for standards, questioning whether the [...]
Margaret Moran makes £177,000 profit on tax-payer funded house
MPs’ expenses – the scandal that just keeps on giving:
MPs’ expenses: Margaret Moran sells taxpayer-funded Luton home for £177,000 profit
The MP for Luton South, who was suspended from the Parliamentary Labour Party over the expenses and lobbying scandals, bought the semi-detached property for £72,995.
She “flipped” her second home designation to the house for just one [...]
Conservative MP David Curry repays £28,000 in expenses
The Guardian had the story this week about the former chair of the House of Commons Standards and Privileges Committee (yes, the former chair of the House of Commons Standards and Privileges Committee):
Tory MP David Curry was today ordered to repay £28,000 and issue an apology after the Commons standards and privileges committee ruled that [...]
Conservative MP Jacqui Lait loses libel hearing over expenses
The Evening Standard reports:
The Evening Standard has won a significant victory in a High Court libel battle brought by a Conservative MP.
Jacqui Lait, MP for Beckenham, had sued over an article headlined “Women MPs will be put off by Kelly reforms”.
Mr Justice Eady today struck out elements of her claim and ordered her to pay [...]
Kitty Ussher: unrepentant over expenses
By way of introduction, a sample of what Kitty Ussher (Labour MP for Burnley) had done:
Kitty Ussher used allowances for £20,000 house make-over
The records reveal that Miss Ussher, the MP for Burnley, contacted the Commons fees office within 12 months of being elected, with a detailed programme of work for the property she had already [...]
Questions grow over Labour MP Diane Johnson’s expenses
A few days ago Dizzy Thinks spotted an oddity in the expense claims of Hull North Labour MP Diana Johnson:
At the end of the detailed, albeit censored claims, provided on the Parliamentary website, is an invoice to the tune of £1,654 for “delivery of a leaflet in Hull North Constituency during September and October 2007″.
Looks legit [...]
Will £66,000 expenses claim sink Dawn Butler?
So asks Ross Lydall over in the Evening Standard:
How many voters are ready to turn against their MP over the expenses scandal? A fascinating battle in a hotly-contested north London constituency looks set to provide some answers.
On one side is Labour whip Dawn Butler. On the other is Lib-Dem MP Sarah Teather. They have been [...]
