Friday, December 11, 2009

Labour MP Jim Devine can't clean his flat but like numerous Labour MPs, he can hoover up MP expenses cash with no difficulty
























Dear All

The greed, sheer greed of a Labour MP is astonishing.

The so called socialist party set up to protect the poor is anything but, it is as Helen Holt found recently a clique of the social elite who have no regard for the people they serve.

Defence Minister Quentin Davies is extremely wealthy and has tried to claim £20,700 for repairs to his stately home's bell tower, his house is worth £5 million pounds.

That’s right; he lives in a £5 million pound house.

Now that the information of his attempts to repair his 18th-century house called Frampton Hall which is in Lincolnshire and not on a council estate, he is desperately trying to save his career.

Although the claim was described by him as "exceptional and very high (though very essential)", he asked the Fees Office pay as much as possible.

When the expenses scandal hit the fan in May, he withdrew the claim in May.

Is it not funny that it takes a Labour MP a scandal before they check their invoices?

This prompted him to write a second letter to the Fees Office which he wrote;

"The actual invoice I received from the builder and which I submitted with my claim covered the roofing repair together with another quite separate job (to the bell tower), for which I emphatically was not seeking any reimbursement."

But had claimed for anyway!

On to the Scottish ‘brethren of the trough’, an ancient order of deep pockets and short arms.

Labour MP Jimmy Hood is a man who likes comfort, particularly if someone else is paying for his. His spending on your money is ‘Joyceian’ in nature, the Lanark and Hamilton East MP spent our money, £266.50 on a mattress enhancer and then there is his wonderful collection of pillows.

He buys luxury Hungarian goose down pillows at £49.50 to rest his weary head from all that expenses claiming.

Sleeping the sleep of the just or terminally greedy which ever view you take.

In March, the taxpayers forked out £2050.96 for a new kitchen and then he came back and added a further £211.64 on appliances.

Jimmy Hood obviously likes food as his waistline and face can attest to. And while he is eating heartily, we also were hit for £1679 to rewire his flat and installing new heaters so essential because less we forget; Jimmy Hood is serving the people.

The only trouble Jimmy ‘the cook’ Hood serves only one dish to the public, hot steaming tripe with side orders of bullshit and hypocrisy in a rich trough gravy sauce.

There is a saying, ‘its cold up north’!

Unless you are Aberdeen North MP Frank Doran, his pitch at the trough has claimed thousands of pounds. The last 18 months has seen him improve his constituency home. He is able to do this because he has designated his own home as his second home.

I see this as abuse of the system; the second home allowance should be property in London.

Doran has billed taxpayers £2996.25 for five replacement windows, like Noah of biblical fame and a host of other Labour MPs, he is no stranger to floods. Unlike Noah in the bible; Doran got us to pay for when he wanted a new wooden floor. Noah never charged the British taxpayer a penny for building an Ark.

Although Doran’s main home is in London which he stays at with his partner Joan Ruddock, he is the 11th most expensive MP in the Country in 2007/2008 said;

Doran states;

"My partner lives in London and our family home is there. I have had the same constituency home for 12 years, it's not changed."

What he misses out is that his wife is a Labour MP as well and she isn't short of a bob or two.

Who can forget Labour Livingston MP Jim Devine?

No relation to Sydney the singer but just as off key when it comes to expenses, Devine has been deselected by Labour in the ‘Shelfgate’ scandal. Jim knows money and how to use it, £2160 for plastering at his London home.

£2160 for cleaning and maintenance at a monthly rate of £180, Jim Devine could clean his own flat but chooses not to, he is too important, this future unemployable man.

But not all people in public life are bad or greedy but the pity is the bad ones such as in the Labour and Tory ranks have destroyed public trust in Parliament.

On the other side of the expenses scandal coin in Scotland, there are people like SNP Transport minister Stewart Stevenson.

What is special about him as an SNP Minister?

He uses his free bus pass to travel on government business.

The majority of MPs do a good job and I hope that most in public life are honest, they do a difficult job with an ever increasing workload and as such should be paid more but the currently scandal shows us that the corrupt and the self serving need to be weeded out.

This applies to everyone right across the board with no exceptions.

It is not enough that Parliamentarians say they are upstanding; they have to be by word and by deed to restore trust.

Yours sincerely

George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

3 comments:

Dawdels said...

I haven't looked through all the claims but several jumped out as the MP's claimed for flood damage just like Jim Devine? Is that not what household/building insurance is for and if not why not?

G Laird said...

Dear Dawdels

I am amazed that so many MPs seem to experience flood damage.

Perhaps someone should look into this more closely to see if the House of Commons needs a supply of rubber boats for members to take up the road.

Yours sincerely

George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

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