Sunday, May 10, 2009

Osborne, Gove and Gillan to be fingered by Telegraph?

Guido has run a spoiler on the Telegraph saying
+++ Gove Claimed for Nights at Garrick +++
+++ Osborne Claimed for Chauffeurs +++
+++ Cheryl Gillian Claimed for Dog Food +++
If that's it then it's not nearly as bad as it could be.

Update: Alan Duncan claims thousands for gardening. I see the Telegraph is running this one by saying,

The senior Tory MP who oversees the party’s policy on MPs’ expenses claimed thousands of pounds for his garden.
As I said in the last post, this is the one that generates a kind of "hypocrite" charge. If the man in charge of expenses policy is seen as being "on the take", it feeds into the wider narrative and makes a mockery of appeals for reform.

Update II: I see the Duncan defence is that it was approved by the Fees Office. Same old, same old. Just because the claim got signed off it doesn't make it right.

Update III: More spoliers from Guido noting,

+++ Letwin Claimed for Tennis Court +++
+++ Maude Flipped Property +++
A tennis court?!?

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

How about 'Gove claimed for nights in Holiday Inn'?

What a load of bollocks. No story here....move along

Anonymous said...

Interesting to notice that Cameron hasn't been mentioned, yet Brown's cleaner was mentioned in the first report.

Is it that Cameron doesn't actually have any dodgy claims or they are saving them for later?

Gareth said...

The Fees Office is rotten as it does not uphold the rules.

There are parallels with the banking sector here; The regulator (Fees Office/FSA) has been leant on (Michael Martin/Gordon Brown) and the twerps in the system have run riot, mostly unchecked, until it all went wrong.(Credit crunch/The receipts got out)

Even the excuses are the same - The claims are okay 'cos we got paid for them/the banks were okay 'cos the FSA didn't say otherwise.

The banks were told the FSA was in charge so assumed the FSA would step in to stop them doing the wrong things. The FSA never did. MPs were told 'fill yer boots until the Fees Office says stop' and the Fees Office rarely said stop.

Richard said...

I suspect the Garrick is a relatively cheap place to stay in central London. Most clubs charge around £100 - full-price in a London Travelodge is at least £85.

Anonymous said...

Why nothing about the Balls?