Leigh MP in Expenses Shocker... : Sat May 09, 2009 10:56 am  

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstop ... ml?image=4 Pity it wasn't a load of stuff from the club shop....

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstop ... ml?image=4 Pity it wasn't a load of stuff from the club shop....

: Sat May 09, 2009 11:04 am  

What gets me about all this is every all the other parties are upto the same crap but only labout are being hung out. The details of all MP's expenses were about to be made public anyway but the twist was that all MP's were given a chance to view what was going to be disclosed and were being allowed to edit the disclosures "with a black marker pen". Isn't it funny that the rest of the cross party MP's are keeping very quiet.

: Sat May 09, 2009 11:29 am  

Its the system thats at fault not the MP,s its funny tho when you see some of the things that have been claimed by certain MP,s
and like Andy said he under claimed he could have claimed another £40,000 Daft Sod he should have claimed it like all the others can just see it 100 Leigh Centurions Team kits 5 Servants all speaking Aussie
ex NRL RL Players

leigh mp : Sat May 09, 2009 11:33 am  

Well my view is you can,t do your job as an MP without an IKEA bathrobe but think £16500 to buy and renovate a flat in London seems reasonable enough.

My MP Hazel Blears, however, well of course she has acted within the rules.

Regarding the other parties MP,s claims don,t the press, when running a story like this, save the best to the last.

It doesn,t surprise me. I remember when Thatcher gave council tennants the right to buy at knock down prices. We had several wealthy Conservative MP,s offering elderly couples, particularly in Westminster, to buy the property and live there rent free for the rest of their natural lives provided the said property was signed over to the same MP when they ended their days.

And on another subject £2 for todays reserve game for a person on a fixed income is outrageous. I shall have to drop in on one of my kids and ask them to lend me the money.

: Sat May 09, 2009 11:42 am  

Well now we know why Andy voted against expenses reform. His claim for £16500 to play the property game was apparently rejected 3 times out of hand by a system already percieved to be something of 'A gravy train'. Therefore we can only assume that it was not wholey neccessary...

His hand written letter claiming that his wife was about to divorce him if the fee was not paid is just pathetic

: Sat May 09, 2009 11:46 am  

TV BOY wrote:

What gets me about all this is every all the other parties are upto the same crap but only labout are being hung out. .

Be it a Labour or Tory Goverment in power, the spotlight was always inevitably going to fall on cabinet ministers.

: Sat May 09, 2009 11:55 am  

I took the hand written note about divorce to be tongue in cheek. Bear in mind he was fairly high up the food chain at that point, there was a reasonable chance he was writing to someone who he was familiar with.

£16k to do up his London flat isnt excessive, we've seen a whole lot worse.

: Sat May 09, 2009 12:59 pm  

Isnt he a born and bred Leyther? probably used to claiming benefits just like the rest of your town.


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: Sat May 09, 2009 1:07 pm  

-VIKINGMAN- wrote:

Isnt he a born and bred Leyther? probably used to claiming benefits just like the rest of your town.


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Yea but 99% of those are immigrants!

: Sat May 09, 2009 1:43 pm  

-VIKINGMAN- wrote:

Isnt he a born and bred Leyther? probably used to claiming benefits just like the rest of your town.


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Real Leythers don't wear bath robes