I guess we have to wait and see what Cameron is going to do but the news in from the Telegraph now is that, along with Alan Duncan, we have the following:Apparently Cameron will be making a statement later tonight. The Francis Maude story is not new and was covered on Dispatches a few weeks ago.
- Michael Gove, the shadow education secretary, spent more than £7,000 in five months furnishing a London property in 2006 before “flipping” his second home designation to a new property he bought in Surrey. He then claimed more than £13,000 in stamp duty and other fees from his Parliamentary expenses for this property. Mr Gove’s behaviour surprised colleagues because the former journalist was only elected in 2005 and is close to Mr Cameron.
- Andrew Lansley, the shadow health secretary, spent thousands of pounds renovating a thatched Tudor country cottage shortly before selling it. He redecorated inside and out with premium paint at a cost of £2,000 and re-shingled the driveway. He then “flipped” his expenses to a Georgian flat in London where he claimed for thousands of pounds in furnishings including a Laura Ashley sofa.
- Francis Maude, the shadow minister for the cabinet office, attempted to claim the mortgage interest on his family home in Sussex. This arrangement was rejected by the Fees Office. Two years later, Mr Maude bought a flat in London a few minutes walk from a house he already owned. He then rented out the other property and began claiming on the new flat: the taxpayer has since covered nearly £35,000 in mortgage interest payments.
- Chris Grayling, the shadow home secretary, claimed thousands of pounds to renovate a London flat 17 miles from his family home. Mr Grayling already owned three properties within the M25 but still bought the flat with loans subsidised by the taxpayer. He then claimed for work on the property for up to a year after it was carried out. This enabled him to claim close to the maximum amount allowable under the expenses system during different years.
- Cheryl Gillan, the shadow Welsh secretary, claimed for dog food on her expenses. Last night, she said that she would repay the money
Update: Cameron has apparently said that saying you were within the rules isn't good enough and MPs need to apologise.
It's worth reading Fraser Nelson's piece on Michael Gove for context to the story about him too.
3 comments:
There may now be Tories in the firing line, and rightly so, but I think the Telegraph is waiting for some juicier bits to come out, from the likes of Balls and Martin.
It is good business for them, the drip drip effect to people the public don't like.
As to Cameron, what can he do? What should he do? I think he will tell them they are arseholes and tell the public they were wrong but it was within the rules at the time.
dispensable all of them, get them sacked.
Parliament should be dissolved, the full expenses published for every member and the the people should be allowed to be the jury on this.
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