Hang on: We're paying for an MP to have his MOAT CLEANED ?

[tangentlama]

I say we claw back every single penny from teh thieving scum politicians.

Then maybe invest in a student-style hostel for all MPs to live in whilst in Westminster (to save costs) and only allow minimal travel expense claims between Westminster and their family home and no other expense claims.

The hostel could be used for years to come by whichever MPs, so money will be well spent. They can have a single bedroom, and share a self-catering kitchen. They should fund their own meals and maybe they can have a small travel allowance to and from the hostel and that's it.

Then if Prescott or some other fat MP breaks a loo seat, it can be billed to him as damaging the hostel. If he loses his key, £50 for a replacement out of his pocket. No moat, no helipad, no swimming pool - just maybe doorpersons plus cleaners for the communal areas.

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

An Englishman's castle is his home and he should ensure that he keeps up appearances for the American tourists.

 

[MikeMcc]

A fucking moat?!?!?!?

Love the way the parties are sticking to sterotypes, bog seats and bath plugs for labour, swimming pools, tennis courts and moats for the tories

He's saying that he never claimed for the work on the moat. The figures were on paperwork supporting a different claim. I think it was one of the swimming pools though which is equally indefensible.

 

[bluestreak]

Did he serve in that blasted heath government?

*applause*

Sir, I salute you.

 

[JHE]

I wonder how you clean a moat.

Cleaning a swimming pool looks relatively easy, but cleaning a moat must be more like cleaning a canal or stagnant lake - not easy at all.

I expect moat-cleaning is one of those ancient skills we are at risk of losing and the MP was doing his bit for job-creation and national heritage.

 

[ViolentPanda]

If Alan Clarke was still an MP (and still alive) I dread to think what he would have claimed for.
Didn't he live in a castle?

Saltwood Castle, near Hythe in Kent, and to be fair, it was his dad, Sir Kenneth, that bought the place, IIRC.
Clark probably claimed for his whores, though.

 

[ViolentPanda]

Hugless Dogg, the 3rd Viscount Hailsham, is a former Tory Minister, who famously forced his 4-year-old daughter Cordelia to eat a hamburger for the cameras to prove BSE wasn't a problem.

The Viscount Hailsham is also a QC.

Corrected his name for you.

 

[pk]

maybe invest in a student-style hostel for all MPs to live in whilst in Westminster (to save costs)

I thought that was what Portcullis House was for...

 

[kyser_soze]

TBF, I kind of admire the guy for the brass balls to be claiming for moat cleaning...

 

[agricola]

I thought that was what Portcullis House was for...

thats just office accomodation, albeit of an unbelievably high standard.

 

[Brainaddict]

It is highly entertaining in several ways - I mean, did these people never stop to think to themselves - hmmm, I wonder how this would be viewed by the public if it ever got out? Oh well, I'll just argue that I was providing employment to moatcleaners or something. It's mindboggling that they didn't realise how bad this would look.

Which all raises another question I haven't heard answered yet: how long has this been going on? Is it more or less forever, or was there some change in rules a few years ago?

And has any MP ever tried to whistle-blow on it? None of them? Not one? Not even, like, Tony Benn?

 

[agricola]

And has any MP ever tried to whistle-blow on it? None of them? Not one? Not even, like, Tony Benn?

Norman Baker has been fairly consistent in highlighting and opposing the culture that exists within the Commons, and (as said above) he has been, at least according to Peter Oborne, ostracized from society in the Commons for it.

MPs like him, or Kate Hoey, should be praised.

 

[Streathamite]

I say we claw back every single penny from teh thieving scum politicians.

Then maybe invest in a student-style hostel for all MPs to live in whilst in Westminster (to save costs) and only allow minimal travel expense claims between Westminster and their family home and no other expense claims.

The hostel could be used for years to come by whichever MPs, so money will be well spent. They can have a single bedroom, and share a self-catering kitchen. They should fund their own meals and maybe they can have a small travel allowance to and from the hostel and that's it.

Then if Prescott or some other fat MP breaks a loo seat, it can be billed to him as damaging the hostel. If he loses his key, £50 for a replacement out of his pocket. No moat, no helipad, no swimming pool - just maybe doorpersons plus cleaners for the communal areas.

TBF, they'd also need office space and lounges there.
Also; have you SEEN the cost of property in Westminster? cheaper to build it in (say) Kennington or Borough and give em a weekly travelcard

 

[trevhagl]

I'll willingly donate money to the Tories for swimming pools ...as long as they follow the example of Michael Barrymore

 

[tar1984]

I find this too funny to actually be angry about it. A moat!

 

[DotCommunist]

I'll willingly donate money to the Tories for swimming pools ...as long as they follow the example of Michael Barrymore

what, get thier lovers coked up and drown them in the pool?* Seems a bit of a harsh punishment for fucking a tory




*not saying barrymore did that.

 

[Clint Iguana]

we should trash the drawbridge so the fucker cannot get out.

 

[tar1984]

we should trash the drawbridge so the fucker cannot get out.

Thats amatuer stuff.

We should drown the fucker in their own moat.

 

[treelover]

Usually, John Mcdonnell comments on these outrages, but he has been silent, hope he isn't another expenses cheat..

 

[London_Calling]

I think I'm starting to get a little tired of the Telegraph's control of not just the news agenda but the entire nations' agenda for almost a week - and there's no end in sight yet.

They choose the presentation of the issue, who should be highlighted and the order.

They've got party leaders jumping when they want and hundreds of MP's strung like puppets and, after a while, it just feels like an awful lot of power for one publisher.

 

[butchersapron]

They do have an awful lot of power right now? So what? What are you suggesting? And i mean practically, not some waffly 'it's bad' whinging.

That power has been handed to them by the commons btw.

 

[DexterTCN]

Well I have to say fair dos to the Telegraph because they're outing everyone.

Remember these MPs have made a big thing about their probity and trustworthiness, they're not fucking slow in taking the 'moral high ground' when they get the chance.

 

[DotCommunist]

I think I'm starting to get a little tired of the Telegraph's control of not just the news agenda but the entire nations' agenda for almost a week - and there's no end in sight yet.

They choose the presentation of the issue, who should be highlighted and the order.

They've got party leaders jumping when they want and hundreds of MP's strung like puppets and, after a while, it just feels like an awful lot of power for one publisher.

Some part of me feels gleeful at the way they are drawing out the revelations. Making them sweat.

 

[London_Calling]

That power has been handed to them by the commons btw.

At the first instance it's been handed to them by someone with a fresh two hundred grand in their bin. But I take the point that the Commons resisted this disclosure all the way.

It was still going to all come out in the wash in July when all the details were to published anyway - possibly with less sensationalism and hysteria, which I'm not sure in the end serves democracy. Maybe it does . .

Just a good week for the Telegraph, based on stolen material we'd get to see soon enough anyway. A lot of control about how we all perceive matters and react.

 

[butchersapron]

Would it all change if me and little paper (le canard)was doing it? What's the difference - use the info you tools, stop dithering ooh i don't like the telegraph, shall i have a mung bean enama tonight? Fucking hell. Cease hand wringing, start attacking. Look, they're already on the fucking floor for you.

 

[London_Calling]

But my reaction is a product of being manipulated by the Telegraph; they don't just have the party leaders jumping when they want, MP's on puppet strings, they also control the public’s rage-ometer.

We publish this > this politician say that > the public will react like this - all day, every day. The paper is deciding specifically who we should be angry at, exactly why and also, by its rate of revelations, how much we should be angry and for how long.

All very Sandie Shaw. Uncomfortable after a week.

 

[agricola]

But my reaction is a product of being manipulated by the Telegraph; they don't just have the party leaders jumping when they want, MP's on puppet strings, they also control the public’s rage-ometer.

We publish this > this politician say that > the public will react like this - all day, every day. The paper is deciding specifically who we should be angry at, exactly why and also, by its rate of revelations, how much we should be angry and for how long.

All very Sandie Shaw. Uncomfortable after a week.

Thats very wide of the mark. The public are not sheep, people do generally give a toss about some things and dont about some others. They do not really need the media to shape their opinions as long as the media actually exposes these stories - which is the relevant point here (given that the Telegraph was the only one who actually got this material, despite its contents being widely known across the entire media).

Seeing MPs taking the piss, and then very obviously trying to cover it up, does tend to cause a lot of the public to become vexed. They do not need the Telegraph telling them to become vexed.

 

[The39thStep]

But my reaction is a product of being manipulated by the Telegraph; they don't just have the party leaders jumping when they want, MP's on puppet strings, they also control the public’s rage-ometer.

We publish this > this politician say that > the public will react like this - all day, every day. The paper is deciding specifically who we should be angry at, exactly why and also, by its rate of revelations, how much we should be angry and for how long.

All very Sandie Shaw. Uncomfortable after a week.

Shite. Either this is what we think democracy is about or its isn't. I am firmly in the no it isn't camp. I don't care which paper spills the beans , these revelations are an insult to us all.Its only the new labour pubes who think this is just anti New labour , they have all been on the gravy train whilst we scrape and survive.

 

[butchersapron]

Exactly and dirt being thrown at the source is not going to do it this time, becaue no one gives a shit about the source - no one cares that it's the telegraph other than few internet divs. In the real world labour are going to get wiped the fuck out in w/c areas, which give those of us us who want to further a pro-w/c agenda the most fertile gound we've ever had (if one month too late). All this nonsense about it hiding other stuff may be correct (it is) but not politically relavent right now. It's not about being 'right.'

 

[London_Calling]

The public are not sheep, people do generally give a toss about some things and dont about some others. They do not really need the media to shape their opinions as long as the media actually exposes these stories

Then we're going to have to disagree because none of this is close to what I believe is the reality.



Fwiw, my general point is to be a cautious because one organisation holds an awful lot of power at the moment, is manipulating the entire national agenda and it's as well to bear that in mind. I'm not saying they should or shouldn't be doing it, just that these are exceptional circs.