(Tue 9/6/15) Article: Expenses and sex scandal deleted from MPs’ Wikipedia pages by computers inside Parliament

 

The Expenses Scandal 2009: Remember all these crimes committed that we the People would have been imprisoned for? http://eotp.org/expenses-09/

References to ‘chauffeur-driven cars’ and a criminal arrest wiped from online biographies in run-up to election

Expense claims and a Westminster sex scandal were deleted from MPs’ Wikipedia pages by computers inside Parliament before the election, The Telegraph has found.
Details of a police arrest, electoral fraud allegation and the use of “chauffeur-driven cars” were also been wiped by people inside the Commons.
The revelation will raise suspicion MPs or their political parties deliberately hid information from the public online to make candidates appear more electable to voters.

More than a dozen online biographies of sitting MPs were doctored from computers with IP addresses owned by the Houses of Parliament in the run-up to the election.
Requests for comment were made to all the MPs in question via their party press offices, but just a handful replied to say the changes had nothing to do with them.

Anyone can edit Wikipedia, an online encyclopaedia kept up to date by users. However each change is tracked and linked to an IP address – a unique string of numbers that identifies each computer using an internet network.

By looking at the changes made by computers with IP addresses owned by the Houses of Parliament it is possible to see what edits are being made from inside the Commons.

The Telegraph has discovered persistent changes to MPs’ biographies made from Parliament in what appears to be a deliberate attempt to hide embarrassing information from the electorate.

ARTICLE: MPs to escape expenses investigations after paperwork destroyed by Parliament

Lets take a look at the rap sheet of the parasites in power: The Expenses Scandal 2009. Had we the public done the same we would have been imprisoned for theft, fraud, and tax evasion. Welcome to the two tier system where the parasites are by any objective measure evidently above the law.

A CLOSER LOOK AT THE CONCEPT OF GOVERNMENT: “PARASITE: A creature which obtains food and physical protection from a host which never benefits from its presence.” (Chambers English Dictionary)

House of Commons authorities have destroyed all evidence of MPs’ expenses claims prior to 2010, meaning end of official investigations into scandal.

 

MPs accused of abusing the unreformed expenses system will escape official investigation after the House of Commons authorities destroyed all record of their claims, the Telegraph can reveal.
John Bercow, the Speaker, faces accusations he has presided over a fresh cover-up of MPs’ expenses after tens of thousands of pieces of paperwork relating to claims made before 2010 under the scandal-hit regime were shredded.
Members of the public who have written to Kathryn Hudson, the standards watchdog, to raise concerns about their MP’s claims have been told there can be no investigation due to lack of evidence.
Under the House of Commons’ “Authorised Records Disposal Practice”, which is overseen by Mr Bercow’s committee, records of MPs’ expenses claims are destroyed after three years. The move is necessary to comply with data protection laws, a Commons spokesman said.
However, under that same set of guidelines, the pay, discipline and sickness records of Commons staff are kept until their 100th birthday. Health and safety records are kept for up to 40 years, while thousands of other classes of official documents on the day-to-day running of the House are stored indefinitely in the Parliamentary Archive.

Read on:  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/mps-expenses/11204405/MPs-to-escape-expenses-investigations-after-paperwork-destroyed-by-Parliament.html

 

 

 

ARTICLE: House of Perks: MPs claim record £103mn in expenses

MPs’ staff, travel and accommodation costs reached £103 million last year, up from £99 million the previous year and £95 million in 2009 – the peak of the parliamentary expenses scandal.

More than £80 million was spent on staff salaries and £11 million on office costs. The bill for accommodation, covering hotels, rented homes and utility bills, was £6.9 million, while £4.5 million were claimed for travel and subsistence.

The Democratic Unionist Party’s Jim Shannon had the biggest claim at £229,262, including £38,215 on travel and £12,126 on hotels.

The bill for MPs’ expenses reached record levels last year, as more politicians put their spouses and children on the public payroll.

A total of 170 MPs employed relatives, at a cost of more than £4 million. The previous year, 150 MPs had family members on the payroll.

Senior Conservatives who employ relations include Defence Secretary Michael Fallon and Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond. Laurence Robertson, the MP for Tewkesbury, employs his ex-wife and his wife. Anne Adams is paid £40,000 to £45,000 as a senior parliamentary assistant, while his ex-wife Susan Robertson gets paid £25,000 to £30,000 as a senior secretary.

Andy Silvester, from the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “Taxpayers will be deeply concerned that the cost of Westminster is going up again.

“David Cameron pledged to reduce the cost of politics after the excesses of the expenses scandal. Politicians must be held accountable for their promises. Combined with the ever-increasing number of peers, that promise looks increasingly difficult to keep.”

He added that there was “nothing wrong with employing family members if they’re qualified for the job, but there needs to be total transparency whenever that’s the case.”

The details were released in an annual report by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) on Thursday, which was set up to handle MPs’ pay after the 2009 expenses scandal.

In 2009, the Telegraph revealed that MPs misused their allowances for private purposes for years, causing public outrage. The political scandal resulted in arrests, resignations and dismissals, as well as public apologies and the repayment of expenses. Former Home Secretary Jacqui Smith, who claimed back expenses for her husband’s adult movies, was one of the high-profile politicians that were exposed.

IPSA chairman Sir Ian Kennedy said reforms to the system had saved £58 million over four years. He said: “Such is the progress made since the scandals which came to light in 2009, our work is attracting the attention of parliaments around the world.”

This week, Marcial Boo, IPSA’s chief executive, proposed that MPs should get a 9 percent pay rise next year, arguing that MPs did an important job and should not be paid a “miserly amount.” David Cameron, whose basic salary as prime minister is £142,500, has opposed the salary increase for MPs.

The basic annual salary for MPs currently stands at £67,060, two and a half times the UK average salary of £26,500.

Source: http://rt.com/uk/187252-mps-claim-record-expenses/

ARTICLE: The Queen’s Speech and 12 words that insult every British voter

Buff the trumpets, polish the footmen, and marvel at all the pomp involved in pretending to be a democracy.

As the heralds pootle out a tune and the ladies-in-waiting hold Brenda’s ermine cloak, consider the fact that everything in her speech is politics.

As Phil the Greek tries to stay awake and glares at the plebs, consider the fact that Parliament has just been closed for 19 days because the government ran out of ideas.

And when the Queen peers through her thick plastic specs to announce her great reforming government will bring in a law to sack misbehaving MPs, try not to put a fist through the wall.

The Queen will say: “My ministers will introduce legislation on the recall of members of Parliament.”

At precisely the same moment, Nick Clegg’s carefully-scrubbed face will beam with self-righteousness and unimpeachable morality.

Because this is something every single party leader said they would support after the expenses scandal of 2009.

This plan was in the Coalition agreement in 2010, which said: “We will bring forward early legislation to introduce a power of recall, allowing voters to force a by-election where an MP is found to have engaged in serious wrong-doing and having had a petition calling for a by-election signed by 10% of his or her constituents.”

And here we are, after four years of government in which it has conspicuously not become law and we’ve been plagued by the likes of Patrick Mercer (disgraced, resigned, golden handshake), Eric Joyce (disgraced, resigned, still in a job) and Mike Hancock (suspended after “prima facie evidence” of “unwanted sexual advances”, still in a job).

And all of whom, if we had that power of recall, might well be down the Job Centre some time ago signing on for £70 a week rather than £67,000 a year with access to subsidised beer.

We’ve also got catastrophically low voter engagement with the political process, with a 15% turnout for the Police and Crime Commissioner elections, 36% for the Euros and just 65% for the last general election where everyone was so unpopular we ended up with “whoever isn’t Gordon”.

The man who runs the country today wasn’t voted into the job. He took it. A mere 36% of voters backed him and that doesn’t put him within screaming distance of a democratic mandate to, for example, hack about the welfare state.

So we need some Parliamentary reform. We need some of the turkeys in the House of Commons to tell one another that Christmas can be a time of fun and feasting.

The time is ripe, and the tide of public disdain is high. People want change.

So perhaps that’s why on February 13 the recall bill was unceremoniously dumped.

It had, as promised, given voters the right to recall a MP with a petition backed by 10% of voters to trigger a by-election.

The trouble with this is it would change stuff.

It would, specifically, switch the loyalty of MPs from their party to mainly their voters, who could yank them off the gravy train with little notice.

This would mean the party machinery – the concept of leader loyalty, voting with the whip, staying on-message to get promoted – would sail out of the window quicker than a potty full of yesterday’s crap.

And that would mean party leaders would find it harder to push through unpopular ideas like the bedroom tax, war, or increased taxes.

And in Coalition government, loyalty is in much shorter supply than rebellion.

Cabinet jobs that buy support have to go around more people, constituency associations put pressure on MPs over issues like gay marriage, and in the first three years of this Parliament Tory and Lib Dem MPs rebelled in 39% of votes.

So Dave and Nick looked at the recall bill and said to themselves: “Shit, no.”

Then they looked at their last year of government, a total lack of any ideas, and a desperate need for something they could say had cleaned up politics.

And then they reintroduced the recall bill for the Queen’s Speech, with the slight tweak that if 10% of local voters signed a petition it would trigger a meeting of MPs to consider whether to sack an MP.

You might want to read that bit again.

The new bill, so proudly announced with all the trumpets and gold twiddly bits, is going to give MPs the right to discipline MPs.

Which is something MPs already have, via the Standards and Privileges Committee, and which did such a marvellous job with Maria Miller’s expenses.

And this new bill, which will cost us taxpayers money in terms of Parliamentary time, food, heating, light, wages and clerical costs, will give them this right they already have while pretending it’s giving us that right.

This is not recall.

This is not democracy.

This is not on.

It’s like trying to stop child abduction by putting the Childcatcher from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang in charge of it.

You might as well go to London, stand at the gates of Downing Street, and laugh hysterically at every passer-by.

With this great reform, an MP will be able to take the money and never turn up at work for five years. They will be able to leave the party their voters chose, become a Communist, abandon their pledges, and commit any crime attracting a jail sentence of less than one year’s custody and there’s nothing anyone can do about it.

(And FYI, less than a year’s sentence would include assaults, £12,900 of expenses fraud, getting your wife to take your speeding points, and possession of child porn.)

Ask yourself this question: If your MP found in possession of child porn, admitted it and was sentenced to six month’s imprisonment, would you want to sack them?

WELL, YOU CAN’T.

In those parts of the world where recall takes place, it does not lead to politicians being wrongly removed from office by vexatious campaigns.

They have voters who feel empowered, and politicians who have a good reason to keep their noses clean.

We do not have recall.

We do not have voters who feel empowered.

We do not have politicians who are forced to behave themselves.

We just have Nick Clegg, who has this morning used the Queen to deliver the British voter a shattering insult.

You blow trumpets about that if you can. All I can hear is a giant raspberry, and the cynical cackling of people who know they’re safe.

* Contact your MP to demand proper recall here and sign Zac Goldsmith’s petition for the same here.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/queens-speech-12-words-insult-3643946#ixzz33ho6NvuU

(2014) Tory M.P. Maria Miller -SYPHONS £1MILLION FROM SUFFERING TAXPAYER IN FRAUDULENT CLAIM

“PARASITE: A creature which obtains food and physical protection from a host which never benefits from its presence.” (Chambers English Dictionary)

 

Fraud is fraud but only to the public. If you are an M.P. the criminal, corrupt and decadent System allows you to claim that you “made a mistake” and thus avoid prison. Clearly, people, there is a two-tier justice system –but still the fools keep voting for it. It just never ends, does it Expenses Scandal 2009. By any objective measures this regime is riddled with criminals and parasites.

Culture Secretary to be censured for abusing parliamentary expenses system after overclaiming for her mortgage and making £1m profit on sale.

The Culture Secretary abused the Parliamentary expenses system by over-claiming for her mortgage and then failing to fully co-operate with an investigation into her conduct, The Telegraph can disclose.

Maria Miller, the Culture secretary, is set to have to repay up to £5,000 and be censured for her claims – following an official Parliamentary inquiry which is expected to report as soon as this week.

It can also be disclosed that Mrs Miller has recently sold the south London house at the centre of the scandal for a profit of more than £1million.

The Cabinet minister, who has previously been supported by David Cameron, is expected to come under intense pressure to resign when the results of the official inquiry are made public.

The Prime Minister will be loathed to lose the state-school educated female member of his Government but any minister found to have abused the Parliamentary expenses system is likely to be seen as a major electoral liability.

One Conservative source said: “We simply cannot have a member of the Cabinet found to have abused the expenses system in any way this close to vital elections.”

Parliamentary authorities first launched an inquiry into Mrs Miller’s claims more than a year ago following an investigation by The Telegraph.

She was exposed after claiming more than £90,000 over four years for a second home where her parents lived in South London – rather than submitting claims for cottages she rented in her Basingstoke constituency.

The Parliamentary Commissioner is understood to have concluded that the arrangement did not lead to Mrs Miller benefiting financially. However, the Commissioner is unlikely to have been aware of the seven-figure profit made in recent weeks by the minister.

Mr and Mrs Miller sold the large house in Wimbledon for £1.47 million on Valentine’s Day of this year. They originally bought the house for £234,000 – which means the house value increased by £1,236,000.

Between 2005 and 2009, she claimed £90,718, which was only £115 less than the total amount she could have claimed. Although the house only cost £234,000 in 1995, the Millers took out a large mortgage against the house – and claimed the interest on the mortgage from the taxpayer.

In November 2007, they increased the mortgage from £525,000 to £575,000. The rules state that MPs could only increase their mortgages to pay the costs of necessary improvements – and that these should be signed off with the parliamentary authorities.

The Parliamentary inquiry discovered that Mrs Miller over-claimed for her mortgage and so should repay around £5,000 to the expenses watchdog.

The over-payment is understood to have occurred because Mrs Miller did not adjust her claims downward claims for mortgage as interest rates fell during the period under investigation.

The Telegraph also understands that the MPs want Mrs Miller to apologise to Parliament for not co-operating in a “timely manner” with the Commissioner.

MPs who sit on the standards committee are thought to be waiting for more financial information to consider at their next meeting on Tuesday before finalising the penalty to be imposed on Mrs Miller.

The MPs are frustrated that they have had to wait for months for basic financial details about the amount of money she over-claimed.

The Parliamentary report is understood to contain a memorandum which details the various attempts made by investigators seeking Mrs Miller’s mortgage details.

One source said: “If she had just said sorry she would be in a much stronger position. It will be a question of embarrassment and if she showed the best judgment.

Read on:  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/mps-expenses/10729984/Maria-Miller-to-have-to-repay-thousands-of-pounds-and-apologise-over-expenses-claims.html

ARTICLE: Was Guy Fawkes the Last Honest Man to Pass through Westminster?

Hat tip: http://www.westernspring.co.uk/was-guy-fawkes-the-last-good-man-to-pass-through-westminster/

Imagine a government that would deliberately take millions away from the budget meant to educate its own nation’s children, while at the time use billions to send foreign aid to other nations who don’t need it?

That would be nothing less than treason. You cannot imagine any sane government doing such a thing. Think of, for example, China, or Japan, deliberately depriving its own people of an education while giving money to Korea? It just wouldn’t happen, because the Chinese and the Japanese would—rightly—regard that as nothing less than treason.

Of course, you guessed it: Britain’s House of Treason down by the banks of the old river, has done precisely that—and no-one seems to know or care.

The Tory-Lib-Dem-Labour party—because they are just all the same party—is busy with much-vaunted “budget cuts” to “save the economy” (after they and their big business bank cronies screwed it over in the first place) and one of the first cuts to be announced was in the education arena.

Any parent with university-age going children is well aware that uni fees have now rocketed from a manageable amount just two or three years ago, to an impossible £9,000 per year—and that is just for the tutoring fees, never mind books, resources, living allowances, residence and so on.

Even those students “lucky” enough to get loans, start off their working lives with tens of thousands of pounds of debt—an impossible burden which—even more importantly—makes starting a family next to impossible.

The nuts and bolts of the process are as follows: England’s university budgets were cut by £449 million in 2010, with similar cuts being added each following year. This means that over £1.3 billion has been cut in the last three years, and there is no end yet in sight. By the end of 2014, the total uni education budget cut will be cut by nearly £4 billion.

In practical terms, this means that the universities have had at least 6,000 fewer places each academic year.

In addition, research funding has been frozen and the uni buildings budget cut by 15 percent.

At the same time, the Government has announced that taxpayers will hand over £50.8 billion in foreign aid to the Third World by 2014. This translates to 61 percent of the total “spending review” cuts announced by the Government.

According to a press release issued by the Department for International Development (DFID), the total foreign aid budget will reach the targeted 0.7 percent of Gross National Income (GNI) by 2013.

This would mean a yearly spend of £12.6 billion, the DFID said.

This increased spending, the DFID said, is “in line with the UK’s international commitments to help those living in extreme poverty in our world. Over the course of the Spending Review period, the Department for International Development will increase resource spending by 35 percent in real terms, and increase capital spending by 20 percent in real terms.”

This means that the foreign aid budget was £8.4 billion in 2010, £8.7 billion in 2011, £9.1 billion in 2012, and will be £12.0 billion in 2013, and £12.6 billion in 2014—totalling £50.8 billion by the end of 2014.

So there you have it: cut the education budget by £4 billion, but boost the foreign aid budget by £50 billion.

Who would dare call it treason?  I for one, and I am increasingly becoming convinced that the last honest man to pass through the halls of Westminster was indeed Guy Fawkes.

(2012) Conservative M.P. (Malevolent Parasite) Peter Luff -PARASITE AND RENT-SWAPPER

A quick reminder of the definition of a parasite:

“PARASITE: (Chambers English Dictionary) A creature which obtains food and physical protection from a host which never benefits from its presence.”

Peter Luff was one of the worst expense troughers – his expensive tastes demands from the taxpayers last time around included a £625 china service, £1,583 on dining room table, £500 for Aga servicing, £809.91 for a TV and another china set for £367 a few years later. In short he was one of the worst troughers caught in 2009 to survive the 2010 election.

He has responded to revelations that he is, surprise-surprise, a rent-swapper with a David Laws style defence that the taxpayer would have saved money if he had broken the rules rather than merely gamed the system. In the interests of fairness Guido reproduces his argument in full:

“The new Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) expenses scheme did not allow MPs to claim the cost of mortgage interest. I could not, therefore, afford to live in my London flat and I had no choice but to sell it or to rent it out. Having only recently purchased it, I chose to rent it out and this information has been in the public domain for two years, it having been properly declared in the Register of Members’ Interests. 

IPSA specified that when MPs are away from home they must live in rented property or stay in a hotel. When I am in London, I now therefore live in a rented flat. This is not my preference – I would have preferred to continue to live in the flat I own, but IPSA’s well-meaning rules designed to safeguard the taxpayers’ interests and promote transparency oblige me to do so. Ironically, the costs to the taxpayer would have been lower had I been allowed to continue with my previous arrangements.”

The obvious question that is unanswered is why a Tory MP on £65,738 thinks that he can’t afford to live in the Kennington flat we have so lavishly furnished with tea sets for him – the mortgage was just £657 a month in 2007 and would be considerably less today with lower interest rates. The average wage in London is less than half what Luff earns. Luff is standing down at the next election before the voters kick him out. Good riddance…

Hat tip:  http://order-order.com/2012/10/19/tory-mps-rent-swapping-sob-story/

(2012) New Labour M.P. (Malevolent Parasite) Denis MacShane -PARASITICAL RENT-SWAPPER

Let us remind ourselves of the definition of a parasite: 

“PARASITE: (Chambers English Dictionary) A creature which obtains food and physical protection from a host which never benefits from its presence.”

The original expenses scandal cost dozens of corrupt MPs their jobs, the worst offenders ended up behind bars. Now the rent-swapping sleaze that John Bercow is trying to cover up has been blown wide open. This morning Guido is listing the most shameless rent-swappers…

The usual suspects kept cropping up when Guido started digging around last week. Top of the pile was surprise, surprise Denis MacShane, outed in the Times this weekend. In addition to his property back in Rotherham – remember he rented his garage to himself on expenses for £125,000 – MacShame owns a £700,000 house in Pimlico just a few minutes walk from Parliament, which he rents out under the IPSA rules and then claims £1,450-a-month expenses to rent another home in London. Making cash off the back of the taxpayers when he has no reason to exploit the IPSA loophole except to enrich himself…

When The Times confronted him he claimed he had stopped doing it – convenient. We have some further questions for him, when did he stop the fiddle? Why can’t MacShame live in his posh Pimlico pad right next to Westminster? Why does millionaire MacShane have to bill the taxpayer rent for a house he doesn’t need to rent?

Because he is taking us for a ride. Again…

Hat tip:  http://order-order.com/2012/10/22/rent-swapper-macshame-exposed/

(2012) Sacked New Labour Parasites Plan to Return and Suck More Blood from the Taxpayer

The Standard have an interesting scoop this afternoon: a number of shamed expenses-hungry Labour MPs who lost their jobs at the last election are apparently planning comebacks in 2015. Guido is generously offering to run their campaigns free of charge:

• Dawn Butler – Dawn has lived in Brent all her life so she knows the issues that matter to you first hand. In fact, she’s such a dedicated Londoner that she claimed nearly £40,000 of your money for a second home, despite living within ten miles of Westminster! In her spare time Dawn likes to enjoy her “whirlpool” bath paid for by, you guessed it, the taxpayer (allegedly). Vote Dawn – no expense spared for a better Brent!

• Shahid Malik – They say there’s no rest for the wicked, but don’t tell that to Shahid. After a long day helping constituents the Dewsbury through-and-through Labour stalwart likes nothing more than to relax in his massage armchair. You’ve already shown your appreciation, you paid for it! Don’t sit around – vote for Shahid!

• Parmjit Dhanda – George Osborne certainly doesn’t have the experience to get us out of this economic mess, but Parmjit does. He’s a money expert, reportedly managing to get away with sneaking an extra £2,000 in mortgage payments by blaming it on“accounting adjustments”. If that’s the sort of financial nous you think we need in government – vote Dhanda!

Hat tip:  http://order-order.com/page/10/

Read on:  http://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/expenses-row-ministers-plan-comebacks-for-2015-election-8192496.html

ARTCLE: Met Police Say M,P.s Can Claim for Fake Offices

Denis MacShane has had his police investigation dropped. It was triggered in October 2010 after the Parliamentary authorities suspected him of fraud due to the £125,000 in rent that he claimed for a constituency office that turned out to be the grotty garage at the end of his garden. He also put in a plethora of invoices for translation services, paid in cash. To his brother Edmund Matyjaszek. 

Guido suspected this announcement would be coming after he was tipped that the specialist crime cops that investigated MPs expenses had all been transferred to Operation Weeting and the associated investigations. MacShane will not get the opportunity to ever clear his name in court, instead the enduring image that remains in the public mind will be this:

No further questions Your Honour…

(2012) Conservative Chairman Baroness Warsi -INVESTIGATED BY STANDARDS COMMISSIONER

Conservative Party co-chairman Lady Warsi will be formally investigated by the Lords standards commissioner. Baroness Warsi referred herself to the watchdog following reports she claimed accommodation allowance while staying with a friend rent-free in 2008. She said she made “appropriate” payments equivalent to what she was paying at the time in hotel costs. Meanwhile Scotland Yard said it had decided not to investigate the matter, passing it back to the House of Lords. Labour had called for a criminal investigation into the Conservative peer’s expenses claims. Following an initial assessment, a spokesman for the Lords standards commissioner said he would hold a formal investigation. The rules for expenses claims by members of the House of Lords, as set out on the Parliament website for the year 2007-08, say members living outside London can claim a maximum of £165.50 a night.

Read on:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-18338728

(2012) Conservative Lord Taylor -BANNED FROM LEGAL PROFESSION FOLLOWING EXPENSES SCANDAL/THEFT FROM THE PEOPLE

The former Tory politician was last May jailed for 12 months after cheating the public purse out of £11,277 with bogus claims for travel costs.

He now has no income and has been struggling to find work after ‘losing his good name’, the Bar Standards Board heard.

The 59-year-old had retained his status as a barrister despite not having practised since he became a member of the House of Lords.

Disbarring him for ‘conduct discreditable to a barrister’, Judge Nicholas Riddell said the regulator ‘requires complete honesty and the greatest integrity as regards all members of the bar.’

‘Criminal behaviour of this seriousness is, in our view to a high degree, discreditable to a barrister, whether or not he was practising at the time,’ Judge Riddell said.

‘We regretfully are clearly of the opinion that the commission of this offence is incompatible with his continued membership of the bar, despite all the mitigation we have heard and taken account of.’

Before entering politics, Taylor had practised as a lawyer in Oxford and the midlands for 17 years.

Mohammed Khamisa QC, defending, told the panel Taylor had ‘suffered quite enough’ after his conviction on the criminal charges.

‘He told me, “what more has God, has society, got in store for me?”.

‘He has lost the only thing that he had: his good name – he really hasn’t got very much money, and is living through the benevolence of friends and family.

‘What you are dealing with is a single error of judgement in an otherwise distinguished life.

‘He has been a role model and continues to be.’

Taylor was convicted of six counts of false accounting following a trial at Southwark Crown Court last May.

He had falsely registered a house in Oxford as his main residence, enabling him to claim expenses for travel to-and-from London, and for overnight stays in the capital.

 

Read on:  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/mps-expenses/9290580/Lord-Taylor-banned-from-legal-profession-following-expenses-scandal.html

His previous crimes:  http://eotp.org/?s=Lord+Taylor&x=0&y=0

(2012) Ex-U.K.I. P. Nikki Sinclaire M.E.P. -ARRESTED FOR EXPENSES FRAUD

An independent MEP has been arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud the European Parliament for allegedly claiming road mileage but travelling on a much cheaper flight.

Nikki Sinclaire, from Meriden, West Midlands, was quizzed by detectives from West Midlands Police’s Economic Crime Unit over allegations about her allowance and expense claims.

Miss Sinclaire, who was elected as a UKIP MEP for the West Midlands in June 2009, was arrested at a Birmingham police station last night.

She had the UKIP whip withdrawn in 2010 following rows over policy, but continues to represent the region in the European Parliament as an independent.

Three other people, two women and a 19-year-old man, were also arrested at addresses in Solihull, Worcester and Birmingham.

All four have now been released on police bail.

A spokeswoman for West Midlands Police said last night: ‘West Midlands Police Economic Crime Unit have today arrested four people on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud the European Parliament.

‘Two women, aged 55 and 39, and a man aged 19 were arrested at addresses in Solihull, Worcester and Birmingham this morning, while a 43 year-old woman was later arrested at a police station in Birmingham. All four remain in custody this evening.

‘The arrests are part of an ongoing investigation which followed an allegation made in 2010 into allowances and expenses.’

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2105274/MEP-Nikki-Sinclaire-arrested-expenses-fraud.html#ixzz1nR8RJeQS

Lib-Lab-Con Parasites want to keep their Expenses Secret

 

The gang of Labour/LibDem/Tory crooks who make up the Tweedledee Tweeledum parties in parliament are desperately trying to prevent the publication of figures showing how much taxpayers’ money they have spent on themselves by way of furnishings for second houses.

Taxpayers have already been charged one million pounds for the staff working at Westminster to prepare the expense receipts for publication, but the MPs now look certain to change the law so that the details will not be published at all.

According to one source, Westminster is rife with speculation that several MPs would have been so embarrassed by publication of their receipts that they would have been forced to leave parliament.

Commons authorities began to edit MPs’ receipts for publication after MPs lost a battle in the High Court to prevent publication. Speaker Michael Martin spent around £150,000 of public money unsuccessfully fighting the case.

Commons leader Harriet Harman has revealed that the Government intends to change the law to exempt MPs from freedom of information laws.

The proposals are backdated to 2005, so would nullify rulings that the public has a right to know exactly how MPs are spending allowances for second homes.

Instead, individual MPs’ expenses are merely to be split into more categories than before when published.

The announcement that parliament wants to defy the High Court and block publication of receipts for MPs’ expenses was buried on the day news was dominated by Government statements on Heathrow and Equitable Life.

The extraordinary move is in direct response to a High Court judgment upholding an Information Tribunal ruling that receipt-by-receipt breakdowns for how public money is spent by MPs must be published.

MPs’ expenses and allowances last year cost taxpayers £87 million. Their claims are on top of their £63,291 salary.

Information campaigner Heather Brooke, who battled for years to have the receipts released, said the developments showed a “new level of arrogance. Just when you thought MPs had understood the need to regain public trust they do something like this,” she said. “It is what you would expect from a banana republic.”

In a separate development, it emerged that despite promises of an end to the Westminster gravy train, MPs will still be free to use taxpayers’ cash for extravagant items to furnish and upgrade second homes.

Under revised expenses rules MPs will still be entitled to pick items from the so-called “John Lewis list”, the informal guidelines on how much can be spent on home furnishings.

As now, they will be able to charge for white goods, sofas, chairs, tables, beds, cutlery and crockery, security fittings, cleaners and decoration to kit out their second homes.

Mortgage interest payments or rent for the additional residences will also be met by the taxpayer as will utility bills and council tax payments. Receipts will not need to be submitted for any items under £25.

There will also be flat-rate ’subsistence’ payments of £25 per day when a “member spends a night away from his or her main home on Parliamentary business.”