Tuesday, May 12, 2009

+++ Pay Back or you're sacked +++

Cameron shows leadership.
  • Pay back dodgy claims or be sacked. You'll be an independent.
  • No more furniture claims, household goods or food claims for Tory MPs. Only rent, mortgage interest, overnight stays and utility bills allowed - this is good
  • Capital gains tax to be paid if they've got mortgage interest rate relief on it from allowance - dig at Blears who has just been stabbed in the back by Harman.
  • All Tory MP expenses to be published online as they happen - lets see how quick this happens. Am currently trying to find out from CCHQ how this will work as not all Tory MPs have websites. My hunch it will be on Association websites.
  • All Tory MPs are paying the money back now on dodgy claims and crucially even Cameron is paying back a maintenance bill he has made. - very clever to include himself
This is close to a Clause IV moment, but heads ought to have rolled. Compared to Brown though it is at least action.

UPDATE: Tebbit has just had the removal of the whip threatened if he doesn't toe the line.

UPDATE II: I imagine there will be many who think "too little too late" and that had they not all been caught it would be BAU.

13 comments:

Dewi Harries said...

You sure at the no food bit Guido?

dizzy said...

No Guiness?

Anonymous said...

Utility bills must not include gardening expenses!

Anonymous said...

Waste of time.
Cameron's time to act came and went. He has punished no-one, and things continue, very much the same.

Barnacle Bill said...

Smart move by DC, even smarter to allow the local constituency offices do the culling when it comes to re-selection time, why should DC have all the fun.

Anonymous said...

So as long as you disguise all the expenditure by taking out an effectively interest free mortgage (just like Dave) then its ok then. But you are still £24k of untaxed income per year better off than would otherwise be the case.

Anonymous said...

It is BAU for Dave - £300k gain on his Cotswold second home to date and counting courtesy of the tax payer

Anonymous said...

Anon: "effectively interest free mortgage (just like Dave) then its ok then. But you are still £24k of untaxed income per year"

Don't be daft. If the interest is £24k a year then that's all the allowance will cover. It will all go to the bank or Building Society

Lord Snooty said...

Slick PR man produces slick PR response to 'crisis' - what a surprise. Dave has just calculated how he needs to play this to secure maximum electoral advantage - fair enough, that's what politicans do, but don't give me this bullshit that this is 'leadership' or some great moral statement.

tory boys never grow up said...

Anon 19:29

Not if you invest the mortgage proceeds - even dim MPs might be able to figure this out? You still get a £24k a year tax free benefit from an interest free loan. If a member of the public gets loan interest paid for him of £24k a year - then HMRC would normally tax £24k of extra income.

Ordinary people do not need £24k of mortgage interest to buy a 1st home - let alone a 2nd one to visit 3 or 4 days a month as in Dave's case.

Because of this fiddle Cameron is sitting on c£300k of state funded capital gains - given that house prices have doubled in Witney since we started funding his mortgage - tell me how this is fair? Or fairer than otehr MPs profiting from the various quoted ridiculous claims.

Perhaps we could agree to pay interest on MPs 2nd homes up to a reasonal amount (certainly not £24k) providing that a commitment is paid to repay any capital gains on the share of the funding provided by the state?

Rebel Saint said...

You can please all of the people some of the time, but whining blog commenters none of the time.

So the "right thing" would have been to do what exactly?

Anonymous said...

A good start by Cameron, but he missed a trick when no-one was punished (the horrible Grey for instance).

I think he should have put a stop to second jobs at the same time.

Bernie~P said...

MPs should have just one job - that of representing their constituents.
As a Tory voter Im dissapoint and rather reluctantly will be voting BNP.