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Alongside the latest, damning revelations – another, ahem, “error” in claiming for interest on an non-existent mortgage – there’s a fascinating article in today’s Times on the current mood inside Parliament. It sounds very much like a mix of fear and self-loathing – although I suspect the former emotion outweighs the latter, especially as there
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CoffeeHouser David has just left a comment flagging this up, but I thought I’d mention it in a post – the shadow Cabinet’s expense claims are now being published online. You can find them here. It’s a good representation of David Cameron’s response to the expense scandal so far: swift and sensible. And the Tory
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I do enjoy the email discussions that are posted over at Comment Central. In their latest exchange, Danny Finkelstein and Philip Collins discuss the likelihood of a Cabinet reshuffle after the June elections. And Collins – who was Tony Blair’s speechwriter – makes an observation which belongs in the “Nice to have it confirmed” folder:
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Well worth reading this article in the Times, which tunes into some of the radio chatter circulating ’round Labour at the moment. Among the tidbits it contains is speculation that Brown might make Peter Mandelson Foreign Secretary in his June reshuffle, and word that ministers are concerned Labour won’t be able to raise election funds
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Just in case some politicians aren’t aware how angry the public are over these rotten expense claims, I’d recommend they read Patrick Barkham’s article in the Guardian today. He’s visited the constituencies of five MPs who have been implicated in the mess this week – Geoff Hoon, George Osborne, Hazel Blears, Alan Duncan and Douglas
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Has the expenses scandal claimed its first scalp? Sky are reporting that Andrew MacKay has resigned as David Cameron’s Commons aide after his expense claims revealed, in the words of a Tory spokesman, “an unacceptable situation”. Questions abound. Was this a receipt nasty so bad that – unlike others so far – it demanded an
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Pity poor Michael Martin. Or, rather, don’t. The Speaker’s coming under increased attack today, and rightly so. As the Daily Mail reports this morning, there are now several plots to oust him from the role: we’ve got Douglas Carswell’s commons motion; a move to have him knifed by “a delegation from the Privy Counsel”; a
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Day six in the Telegraph’s investigation of MPs’ expenses, and the latest revelations are perhaps the most outrageous so far. Exhibit A: the Labour MP Elliot Morley, who claimed £16,000 for interest payments on, erm, a mortgage that had been paid off 18 months previously. Other allegations include: Fabian Hamilton declaring his mother’s house in
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Patrick Wintour’s write-up of the continuing expenses scandal today contains a neat insight into a recent Cabinet meeting: “Only one cabinet minister, Andy Burnham, the culture secretary, told his colleagues that if he had contributed to the problem through his expenses claims then he was quite willing to offer his apologies. No other cabinet minister
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Put this in the file marked “Obscured by the expenses row”: a report that the Government will continue to keep PFI projects off the books, in spite of advice from a whole host of accountancy and industry professionals. As the FT puts it: “In spite of the widespread expectation that almost all PFI projects would
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Expect much ado about expenses in PMQs today, especially after David Cameron took the lead on the issue yesterday. Live coverage from 1200. 1203: Brown now. First question from the Labour benches: a mention of MPs’ expenses, and what can Brown do to “invest” in skills – “unemployment is not a price worth paying”. Brown
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Question: how can you tell that David Cameron has taken the lead on expenses? Answer: all the other party leaders are now copying him. In response to the Lib Dem revelations today, Nick Clegg has asked his MPs to repay their dubious claims. While Gordon Brown has done another lap of the media circuit; putting
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David Cameron has called a press conference for 1530, and you can probably guess the topic that will dominate proceedings (hint: MPs’ expenses). He’s said to have spent today figuring out how to deal with the miscreants in his party, so will we hear what the punishment will be? Stay tuned for live coverage. 1522:
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Given the very real prospect that the BNP will make some sort of mark on next month’s elections, I’d recommend you read Martin Fletcher’s article in the Times today. He offers not only an effective portrait on a recesson-hit town – in this case, Barnsley – but an insight into how the disgusting nationalist group
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Today is one of the biggest days in David Cameron’s time as Tory leader. If yesterday’s expenses revelations were bad – and they certainly were – then today’s are probably even worse. Despite a well stage-managed Tory response to the scandal so far, there’s a clear sense that something more needs to be done. The
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Today can’t go by without a Coffee House mention for the Sun’s front page story – about how a Downing St aide left a document outlining Gordon Brown’s “make-up routine” in the back of a cab. The paper have published full details, and we learn that our Dear Leader’s slaps on “terracotta Guerlain” bronzer and
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Is Gordon Brown playing catch-up, or is his belated apology over the expenses scandal all part of some cynical plan? Sure, Cameron dropped the S-word yesterday, so Brown may be scrambling to prevent the Tory leader taking an unassailable lead on the issue. But it does strike me as odd that he’s waited for the
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If you thought your opinion of Parliament couldn’t sink any lower, then think again. This morning’s papers contain a couple of grim revelations about how MPs are responding to the expenses scandal, and they certainly fit in with the sorry pattern of denial and evasion that we’ve witnessed so far. Take the email sent out
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So the truth is now out on the shadow Cabinet’s expense claims. Alan Duncan claimed £4,000 of gardening costs. Gove and Lansley are alleged to have “flipped” their second home designations, as well as spending £1,000s on home furnishings and renovations. Francis Maude and Chris Grayling have tidy property portfolios going. And Cheryl Gillan claimed
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Ok, I know – deckchairs, Titanic, and all that. But a reshuffle rumour in this morning’s papers is still worth mentioning. Both the Sunday Telegraph and the Sunday Mirror are reporting that Brown could take the “nuclear option” of moving Alistair Darling to the Home Office, and installing someone else as Chancellor. As the Telegraph