Mark Pack

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 [...] »

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 [...] »

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 [...] »

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 [...] »

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 [...] »

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 [...] »

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 [...] »

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 [...] »

Good news: the Conservative MP for Mid-Sussex has more than halved the number of outside jobs he does in addition to being an MP. Bad news: he’s still doing three, paying over £350,000 per year in total. (Back in December 2005, he had seven outside jobs, but payment for them did not have to be disclosed.) Certainly can’t [...] »

From one of the latest YouGov polls: Does the expenses scandal… Makes me more likely to vote at the coming election, to express my anger at the way some politicians have behaved 14%< Makes me more likely NOT to vote, because politicians are much the same, and I don’t trust any of them any longer 12% Net: +2% Make no difference, [...] »