Posted May 7, 200916 yr Gordon Brown paid Andrew Brown more than £6,000 for "cleaning services" over the course of two years, and reclaimed the money from the taxpayer. He insisted tonight he had done nothing wrong. The Prime Minister also claimed twice for the same £153 plumber's bill - money which he paid back today after the Telegraph pointed out the discrepancy to Downing Street. Jack Straw, Hazel Blears and Paul Murphy are among 13 members of the Government who have been dragged into the growing row over taxpayer-funded allowances by the Telegraph investigation. The disclosures show the full extent to which MPs have exploited the expenses system to subsidise their lifestyles. Details of MPs' expenses claims are due to be made public in July, when 1.5 million receipts will be published by parliament under the Freedom of Information Act, covering five years' worth of claims. But crucial details such as the identity of people to whom money was paid and the location of homes which MPs claimed on will be deleted from the receipts when they are published, meaning many of the worst apparent abuses of the system may never have been uncovered. The Daily Telegraph has seen uncensored copies of the receipts, which lay bare the extent to which MPs play the system to maximise the amount of money they can claim from the taxpayer. • Hazel Blears, the Communities Secretary, claimed money for three different properties in the course of a year, and spent £5,000 on furniture in just three months after buying the third property. • Jack Straw, the Justice Secretary, claimed back twice as much for his council tax as he had actually paid. He later apologised for the error, saying accountancy was not his strong point. • Paul Murphy, the Welsh Secretary, splashed out more than £3,000 on a new hot water system for his second home, explaining in a letter to the parliamentary fees office that his water was too hot. Over the coming days, further details of claims made by MPs from all parties will be revealed by the Telegraph. Our investigation underlines the need for urgent reform of the expenses system, which is currently being reviewed by the committee for standards in public life. In many cases, the parliamentary fees office, which administers the expenses system, uncovered evidence of apparent abuses but the MPs concerned were not independently investigated. Mr Brown suffered a humiliating defeat last week when he was forced to drop proposals for immediate reforms, which followed a series of scandals involving other members of the cabinet. They included Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, who claimed thousands of pounds for refurbishing her family home in her constituency, claiming her "main" home was a spare bedroom in her sister's house in London. Tony McNulty, the employment minister, admitted claiming £60,000 for a mortgage on his parents' home while he was living in another house eight miles away. Source: Daily Telegraph Does anyone believe that these claims are legitimate? Who pays their brother £6,000 for cleaning services for sharing a cleaner. The only way some of these cretins are repaying the overpayments are because they have been caught. If you claim too much benefits you have to repay it, and could be fined, if you overclaim expenses from your employer you could get fired. Why is there no punishment for our glorious MP's? They just say oops, its an oversight, and I didn't do anything wrong,really! All expenses will be published in July, and no doubt some really embarasment and scandal will be revealed.
May 8, 200916 yr I'd just like to know why in god's name were the MPs voting over changes to their own expenses? Some would just vote against Gordon Brown for the sake of not liking him/wanting to cause him further embarrassment/oust him from office, most would vote against because they value their precious expenses and/or don't want their embarrassing "discrepancies" to come to light. It's ludicrous, a complete farce. July's revelations will certainly make interesting reading (the ones that aren't somehow covered-up, that is)!
May 8, 200916 yr • Paul Murphy, the Welsh Secretary, splashed out more than £3,000 on a new hot water system for his second home, explaining in a letter to the parliamentary fees office that his water was too hot. - Why not add cold water or why use too much hot water when it was actually really hot?
May 8, 200916 yr When you think about it though, all us who criticise it, including me, would do exactly the same if we were in their shoes. Come on admit it, we all would claim for as much as we could get away with. It's human nature. Edited May 8, 200916 yr by Crazy Chris
May 8, 200916 yr When you think about it though, all us who criticise it, including me, would do exactly the same if we were in their shoes. Come on admit it, we all would claim for as much as we could get away with. It's human nature. Your disregard for taxpayers money is quite astounding :rolleyes: then again you don't pay tax so it doesn't surprise me :manson:
May 8, 200916 yr oooh i bought a vase from John Lewis last christmas ^_^ lynda :heart: Is this a spam? :huh:
May 8, 200916 yr Author Some more from the list..... • Phil Woolas, the Home Office Minister, claimed for items of women's clothing, tampons and nappies. The parliamentary rules only allow expenses which are "exclusively" for MPs' own use so it is not clear these items were justified. • Barbara Follett, the multi-millionaire Tourism Minister, claimed for private security patrols outside her London home costing more than £25,000. The parliamentary fees office, which is supposed to monitor claims, warned Mrs Follett that her claims may appear "excessive" if made public, but she was not deterred, saying she felt unsafe in Soho after being mugged. • Ben Bradshaw, the Health Minister, switched the designation of his second home to a property he shares with his partner in west London. Although the couple initially split the mortgage costs, Mr Bradshaw now claims the entire interest bill on the property – despite owning only half the property. • Greg Barker, the shadow climate change minister, made £320,000 after buying a flat with the help of taxpayers' money, and selling it after only 27 months. He is the first senior Tory to become embroiled in the expenses row, but details of other prominent Conservatives will be disclosed in coming days. Some of the excuses our gracious Mp's came up with for their claims: One former Labour minister said: "I object to your decision not to reimburse me for the costs of purchasing a baby's cot for use in my London home... perhaps you might write to me explaining where my son should sleep next time he visits me in London?" A Tory MP attempting to claim £5,347 for a new kitchen wrote: "The work surfaces are no longer hygienic and the sink unit, which is an old brown plastic double bowl, is scratched and very ugly." A backbench Labour MP wrote: "I appreciate you are under severe pressure... but, as I explained on the phone, I am away for two weeks and I don't want to leave my family destitute." Heard that one rich Tory claimed £10 for manure........you couldn't make it up could you :lol:
May 8, 200916 yr What do you mean hun? :unsure: lynda. :heart: Just a word of advice. You won't find many people in the Perspectives forum taking too kindly to posts about your John Lewis shopping spree or the sexual appeal of David Cameron. You may find those sorts of posts better suited to the Lounge. A backbench Labour MP wrote: "I appreciate you are under severe pressure... but, as I explained on the phone, I am away for two weeks and I don't want to leave my family destitute." Because an MPs salary couldn't POSSIBLY cover it.
May 9, 200916 yr What do you mean hun? :unsure: lynda. :heart: this forum is for discussion and debate... a trite one liner about your shopping habits is not the type of response we want in here. :) future posts of that nature will be deleted :)
May 9, 200916 yr oooh i bought a vase from John Lewis last christmas ^_^ Okay, are you just deliberately spamming this forum.....? Going "slightly off topic" or on a different tangent is one thing, going off the reservation entirely is quite another.....
May 9, 200916 yr Some more from the list..... • Phil Woolas, the Home Office Minister, claimed for items of women's clothing, tampons and nappies. The parliamentary rules only allow expenses which are "exclusively" for MPs' own use so it is not clear these items were justified. • Barbara Follett, the multi-millionaire Tourism Minister, claimed for private security patrols outside her London home costing more than £25,000. The parliamentary fees office, which is supposed to monitor claims, warned Mrs Follett that her claims may appear "excessive" if made public, but she was not deterred, saying she felt unsafe in Soho after being mugged. • Ben Bradshaw, the Health Minister, switched the designation of his second home to a property he shares with his partner in west London. Although the couple initially split the mortgage costs, Mr Bradshaw now claims the entire interest bill on the property – despite owning only half the property. • Greg Barker, the shadow climate change minister, made £320,000 after buying a flat with the help of taxpayers' money, and selling it after only 27 months. He is the first senior Tory to become embroiled in the expenses row, but details of other prominent Conservatives will be disclosed in coming days. Some of the excuses our gracious Mp's came up with for their claims: One former Labour minister said: "I object to your decision not to reimburse me for the costs of purchasing a baby's cot for use in my London home... perhaps you might write to me explaining where my son should sleep next time he visits me in London?" A Tory MP attempting to claim £5,347 for a new kitchen wrote: "The work surfaces are no longer hygienic and the sink unit, which is an old brown plastic double bowl, is scratched and very ugly." A backbench Labour MP wrote: "I appreciate you are under severe pressure... but, as I explained on the phone, I am away for two weeks and I don't want to leave my family destitute." Heard that one rich Tory claimed £10 for manure........you couldn't make it up could you :lol: God, I mean, do these buggers actually pay for anything....? <_< Am I actually paying for some MP's weekly groceries at M&S or Waitrose as well ffs.....? They earn six-figure salaries and it just seems to me that they're just utterly taking the p!ss tbh..... I think that the new cover of Private Eye mag puts this issue better than I could tbh... http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v683/Grimly001/theeye1235-1.jpg
May 9, 200916 yr - Why not add cold water or why use too much hot water when it was actually really hot? He was advised that the boiler was unsafe and beyond repair so he had it replaced.
May 9, 200916 yr Some more from the list..... • Phil Woolas, the Home Office Minister, claimed for items of women's clothing, tampons and nappies. The parliamentary rules only allow expenses which are "exclusively" for MPs' own use so it is not clear these items were justified. No he didn't. They were on the receipt but he only claimed for selected items on the receipt. The items mentioned in the Telegraph were not among them.
May 9, 200916 yr When you think about it though, all us who criticise it, including me, would do exactly the same if we were in their shoes. Come on admit it, we all would claim for as much as we could get away with. It's human nature. Speak for yourself. I've been a local councillor and claimed far less than I was entitled to claim. It is true, however, that MPs are hardly alone in this. Where I work there are a lot of contractors who get as receipt for every cup of coffee so they can claim it as a "legitimate expense". And, of course, it would be very interesting to see full disclosure of the expense claims of the journalists writing these stories, some of whom are paid more than the Prime Minister.
May 9, 200916 yr No he didn't. They were on the receipt but he only claimed for selected items on the receipt. The items mentioned in the Telegraph were not among them. Even so, should we be paying for ANY MPs bloody shopping bills.....? Come on..... <_< These "expenses" are joke.... And, no, I dont care if this system has always been in existence or not, it's clearly time for a change.... MPs should get travel and office/admin expenses, but that's it...... No second home allowance, no dodgy "business lunches", and certainly no "adult films"..... <_<
May 9, 200916 yr Even so, should we be paying for ANY MPs bloody shopping bills.....? Come on..... <_ these are joke.... and no i dont care if this system has>always been in existence or not, it's clearly time for a change.... MPs should get travel and office/admin expenses, but that's it...... No second home allowance, no dodgy "business lunches", and certainly no "adult films"..... <_> Most MPs need a second home. Yes, the system needs to be changed and it may be that there should be state-owned accommodation available for MPs. Alternatively, as suggested by Nick Clegg, second homes should be rented rather than bought by MPs.
May 9, 200916 yr He was advised that the boiler was unsafe and beyond repair so he had it replaced. Oh, alright. It didn't say that "the boiler was unsafe and beyond repair so he has to splash £3000 from the hot water system". :rolleyes: That confused me. :( Edited May 9, 200916 yr by FMbassador11
May 9, 200916 yr Most MPs need a second home. Yes, the system needs to be changed and it may be that there should be state-owned accommodation available for MPs. Alternatively, as suggested by Nick Clegg, second homes should be rented rather than bought by MPs. Someone, might have been Rob or Scott I don't know, suggested in another thread that there should be a uni style halls of residence type thing for mp's so they can stay in London when necessary, I think that system would be good as at the moment they all with a handful of exceptions have their snouts deep in the trough and are grabbing what they can Probably around 200 Labour MP's are going to lose their jobs come the next election so I am guessing they are grabbing what they can while they can :rolleyes:
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