Jo Johnson MP in uncommon prayer request

Who is Jo Johnson, I thought. Sounds like a Safestyle double glazing salesman. The sort that have been banned from doorsteps. Then I found out he's the MP for Orpington and the brother of Boris. One thing that family is not shy about is talking.

He wants to end the daily practice of saying prayers in the House of Commons chamber because he claims it would improve the image of MPs among the public and save time. That's a rather weak claim. A bit like his brother's desire to put an airport on the Thames marshes and get daily bird strike. Johnson junior has little clue about the constitution. We have an established church. It weaves in and out of Parliament. Left to his own devices he may forget this notion. If it ever caught on it would help to unravel our way of life.

The Conservative Party was once likened to the Church of England and vice versa. Now the Tories have left the party to be festered with modernists creepily posing ideas that they think will ingratiate themselves with the public. Misguided, I'd say. The CofE is fast becoming a sect where doctrine is scribbled out on the back of an envelope. The Conservative Party is in danger of imitating Shakespeare's “full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” Is there any place for High Church High Tories anymore?

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1353386/Boris-Johnsons-MP-brother-Jo-says-prayers-scrapped-Commons.html#ixzz1D7u83FWl

Parliamentary interns exploited?

The House of Commons has been doing everything on the cheap it seems. By that I mean it seems to want to get the maximum benefit out of a very small purse. We must be the only country in the world where foreigners get to have a good laugh at our expense. That's the British way - make do and mend. Currently, we're trying to mend a ridiculous system of expenses. Now another problem may have arisen.

MPs have been used to having young graduates work in their offices for nothing. Or virtually nothing. Pete Barden spent the past summer working as an intern for a Liberal Democrat MP, dealing with duties ranging from opening mail to campaign work and engaging with constituents. He says, "I was exploited but everyone's exploited. It's the way it works." Not all interns agree with the exploitation bit, but nearly all think they should be treated better financially. Maybe travel expenses would be a start, they think.

This is just another element of the crazy way MPs are scared of allowing a proper payments system to be implemented. It is also a real problem in that these interns are mainly apprenticed MPs, hoping to move onto the green benches in a dead men's shoes routine. We need proper researchers on proper pay.

I am still convinced that the next general election will be about the way MPs are paid as much as it is about their approach to the monumental debt crisis. Most voters will be so enraged come next June that votes will go all over the place. What was once a two-horse race will now be a political version of the Grand National. Pity there won't be a political version of Mrs Topham to oversee events!

MPs' expensive expenses

Today sees the publication of Sir Thomas Legg's investigation into the rights and wrongs of MPs expenses. Or rather the letters he's sending to every MP.

This sorry saga has been a mess from the start. It started with limp-wristed government (both parties are to blame!) whereby the pay of MPs was camouflaged by an interesting expenses system and a convuluted pensions arrangement. Actual salaries looked rather meagre compared with other jobs and careers. This Alice in Wonderland approach to financial settlements was aided and abetted by the chief whips and the Speaker. A form of cahoots and cover-up all mixed up with the old school tuck shop way of dishing out the goodies.

Two things come to mind. First, the MPs were clowns indeed if they thought that the system was sustainable. It never was going to be. It was open to blackmail, exposure or criticism. Possibly all three at once. Second, it was a formal arrangement, so any MP exploiting this system was only doing so because he/she was encouraged to do so. It may be morally reprehensible to claim for duck islands and wisteria cleaning, but it was not illegal. It was up to the Fees Office to say yeah or nay. The only alleged illegality is outright mortgage fraud, and that about covers every citizen.

The problem MPs find themselves in is that immorality cannot be dealt with by due legal process in this case. It is absolutely right what Sir Stuart Bell says. "I think many MPs, if they read the newspapers, may feel (Sir Thomas) is not staying within that remit, he's not respecting the decisions that were made by the fees office in accordance with the rules at the time." Absolutely. The only reason we are seing money being paid back is because MPs feel bad about it.

Gordon Brown felt bad about his Sky Sports subscription being funded from expenses. David Cameron felt bad about his wisteria being removed as a constituency expense. Both have effected a mixture of memory loss, accounting failure and "I was too busy to know" in an effort to explain themselves. If they'd both said they thought they could get away with it, I'd be more than satisfied. But we've had a show of ridiculous hand-wringing and the imposition of kangaroo courts. Hardly a moral approach.

Now it has come to some MPs wondering why they should pay back when they did nothing legally wrong. Good question. They may feel aggrieved. They may be under consituency pressure to pay back, but they don't have a legal requirement to do so. Only if it fell outside the agreement and outside the law.

Gordon Brown is begging them to "get it sorted out and let's get it back to a system that people have confidence in" but his moral compass is so in need of repair that he is the last person to be preaching.

What they should have done is drawn a line in the sand, got a simplified pay and expenses system (one side of A4 stuff!) and moved on. Now all they've got is a canker that they can't stop scratching!

Flippin' 'eck, it's Bercow!

Yes, John Bercow has come through to be the voice of the Commons, the Speaker, the choice of the "reformers". This must be the first election for Speaker where the candidates were utterly eager to do the job. No more so than in Bercow's case. It is said that the bulk of the Conservative benches can't stand him. If Nadine Dorries is anything to go by, then that is true. He has a lot going against him. First, he isn't very tall. Tories are rather suspicious of diminutive men. Second, he has changed his views from Monday Club stalwart to New Labour admirer (it is alleged!). But one thing that Tories detect and fear most is political greasing. They don't mind a bit of honest armtwisting. They tolerate outright dissent on occasions. However, sucking up to gain advancement is very much frowned upon. Bercow has been accused of this.

He has also been accused of flipping his homes. I doubt though that the papers accusing him of this will have much of it stick. He appears above all this now. However, come the general election things may be a bit different. He may have a whopping majority in Buckingham, but that was Tory voters then. Would they be so keen to vote for a flipping independent next time? It could be interesting.

Buckingham has enjoyed a mixed bag of MPs. They had the delights of Robert Maxwell. John Radcliffe, who has the famous Oxford hospital named after him, was elected for Buckingham in 1713, but died the next year. Given than John Bercow will be standing for election under the banner of "The Speaker" and that both Labour and Liberal Democrat candidates will stand aside, it is open to others to mount a challenge. Horace King found he had a challenge in 1970 from the then little known National Democratic Party.

Opportunity arises for anti-sleaze candidates. Also, those out to peel away the Conservative vote, such as UKIP. It could be an interesting election. John Bercow may well need to don his reformer's habit in case the electors of Buckingham get the habit of reforming their constituency representation.

Parliamentary expense scandal hits new low!

Frank Cook is a Labour MP. He tried to claim on expenses for a £5 church donation he made at a Battle of Britain memorial service. Now if that isn't the lowest of the low, I do not know. Forget the moat cleaning and the duck houses, this is morally reprehensible. To think he handed over a measly fiver in the House of God thinking all the while he could get it back from the Fees Office. Is that all the memorial service meant to him?

Little faith, some hope, no charity!

By-elections now, please!

It is becoming an unedifying spectacle of bizarre proportions. The country staggers on, seemingly leaderless, with MPs offering to resign like green bottles hanging on a wall. Some 13 or so have decided to resign. But instead of going now they are to remain as MPs for a whole year more. This is totally ridiculous. Did the government want the RBS board hanging about for a year? Certainly not!

The country will not wear this. By-elections need to happen now, before angry disquiet turns to real anger and street demonstrations. Elliott Morley says he still has constituency work to do. Well, if he's the only person capable of doing it, then heaven help Scunthorpe. It doesn't matter what party these people represent, it is vital that constituencies have MPs that are representative to the fullest ability. Having lame duck MPs is definitely not that.

It will be an unstoppable demand before the month is out. Gordon Brown and David Cameron must see that these constituencies are not left in a politically derelict condition for so long. By-elections now, please!

Cameron's kangaroo court

David Cameron is said to be showing leadership. He is acting decisively in view of the continuing expenses scandal. But is he? I have expressed concern before about his handling of this. I have a lot of admiration for Cameron, but I think he is not showing the fairness that this issue deserves.

Instead of dealing with every MP in the Conservative Party equally and with the same amount of fairness, he is keeping his own chums safely out of harm's way and throwing the old wood and those considered electorally liable out of the window. A kind of partial defenestration.

Let's not forget that Cameron had his own spot of bother with the wisteria. He quickly came running out, puffed himself up and said it was all in error but he understood the problem, blah blah, and would pay the money back. Similar stuff was said by Andrew Lansley (who was asked to stay away from Euro election campaigning for fear of causing a riot!), Alan Duncan, and other shadow cabinet members. No stepping down for them. Others are not so lucky. Sir Peter Viggers goes because he is labelled the "Duck Island MP" and Douglas Hogg goes because he is the "Moat Cleaning MP". Cameron said, in phone calls, that they should go. Why them and not him? Today Andrew MacKay got a similar phone call. Perhaps they can get jobs clearing wisteria?

This smells of favouritism and political manoeuvring. Lord Tebbit has said he thinks that Cameron may be saving the skins of those around him which doesn't look good. Basically, it is helping to massage the reputations of the modernisers whilst the old guard can go hang.

If this goes on much longer, David Cameron will lose the mantle of serious contender for Prime Minister and look like a cheap political dictator, sacking those who get in his way. Politics is not child's play, I realise that, but neither should it retain it's deviousness and deception. The public is crying out for honourable members not toadies and crawlers and the equivalent of teacher's pet. Either Cameron acts fairly and squarely or not at all.

Ducking and diving!

Sir Peter Viggers, Tory MP for Gosport, is to retire after admitting he claimed a £1,645 "duck island" on expenses. Seems an awful lot of money for ducks to be kept in the lap of luxury. If you want one (not on expenses of course), here are a whole load of them. They are called "bird pavilions" and ducks look like real drakes in them!

But Viggers isn't the only one who just thought the system was as safe as ducks' houses. The government has authorised the spending of £300,000 (in a roundabout way) to find out if ducks like water. All this taxpayers' money has been used by two eggheads from Oxford University to find out what type of water ducks like best.

You don't need to be a scientist to know that there is not one single animal on the planet that would choose filthy water to drink or to swim in. So the fact that clean water is preferred just shows that the animals sometimes have more intelligence than humans!

Which gets me thinking. Maybe the Animals Count party could put up real candidates at the next election. A couple of elephants (they never forget), a lot of meerkats (they're always on the lookout), and plenty of proper pigs. The real porcine creature cannot stand mess, is clean and tidy and roots out rubbish vigorously! It's the human pigs that are greedy, graceless and generally in it to win it!

"I'm appalled", says Gordon Brown

Fine words. Listen to his "outrage". It would be a lot better if he had spoken more candidly about his own use of expenses, the cleaning bill for example. That's probably why he sounds so nervous when talking about other MPs and their claims. Standards in public life? He wants a "complete clean-up of the political system" but a cleaning bill amount to over £6,000. They say charity begins at home. So should honesty and transparency.

Gordon Brown knew all about the sleaze!

Former chairman of the Committee on Standards in public life, Sir Alastair Graham has said he flagged the issue of MPs' expenses with Gordon Brown before he became prime minister. That was two years ago. Brown must have blinked, muttered, gulped breath and just copied Blair's "yeah, yeah" approach to it all.

Gordon Brown is in no fit position to stand in judgement of anyone. His cleaning bill business does that for him.

Malik steps down

Although he put up a vigorous defence of his position, Shahid Malik has stepped down as Justice minister. He hasn't resigned, but is awaiting his name being cleared. The allegations made by the Daily Telegraph are detailed. Mr Malik says he stuck "a million per cent by the rules" and said some of the paper's claims were a "fabrication". And he called for the "bloodfest" of media coverage of expenses to stop.

It appears that Mr Malik has taken some favourable interpretation of the rules. I do wish he had thought a bit more about the television. He's just given the BNP another club to batter him with!

Malik milking the system!

Fancy a home cinema system courtesy of the taxpayer? Well, you can get half the cost of one if you are an MP and go to the Fees Office to tell them you need it for helping your constituents get out of the economic mess they're in!

Shahid Malik is a complete fool. He represents Dewsbury, a town where the BNP is targeting him and the Labour vote. Did he think for one minute that his dodgy claims for lavish living would remain a secret for ever? His antics have just given them the finest ammunition they could have wished for. Is he a political masochist?

And he's another MP in trouble with his local council. He had claimed £65 for a court summons for not paying council tax. But his main mistake was getting mixed up with a slum landlord and making sure he milked the second home allowance for all it was worth.

The Daily Telegraph has done a good job in exposing this sorry tale of spin and corruption.

Morley suspended! What the people think

I'm wondering if anyone is going to vote for one of the major parties at the Euro Elections. It's a bit like the minnow football clubs thrashing the premier clubs in the FA Cup! Gordon Brown says of Morley's suspension, "Where there is irregularity now it has got to be dealt with immediately. Where standards have been transgressed and the evidence has been shown to be there, action has got to be taken. Where disciplinary action is necessary, it will and will immediately be taken." Pity he didn't think like that with the bankers!

Tory MP Andrew MacKay quits post in expenses claim

Two second homes? Andrew MacKay is an MP and his wife is an MP. Over the road, so to speak, in Bromsgrove. Sounds like a violin is playing in the background. MacKay seems totally baffled by it all. He's blaming others. Wow! Talk about falling on his sword. More like falling on a beanbag! Stuffed full of money - £100,000 of it!!

Watch this space - literally from the BBC. You couldn't make it up. MPs have done that for us!

Hazel hands over £13,332 to salvage her Salford hopes!

Hazel Blears has decided to hand over to the HMRC the amount she would have paid in Capital Gains tax on her flipped homes, had she been liable. She has given an interview to the TV media about why she has decided to do this. No mention of sorry, rather that the system or the fees office made her flip her home. Maybe it did, but she still appears to have profited from the episode.

She now realises that the public are up in arms and rightly so. Gordon Brown has been like a sloth descending a tree to see what's going on in the jungle. I bet he's not best pleased, to put it mildly, that she has taken the tip from David Cameron to put houses in order (no pun intended!). Brown has been very peculiar in the whole affair.

I find it very odd that the politicians caught out kept on about the system. Communists after the fall of the Berlin Wall said the very same thing. It was the system that told them, etc, etc.

Gradually things are coming together. We cannot allow as a nation our parliament to be brought into disrepute. Things have to change fast. However, it's going to be shown up as a red card at the Euro elections. Norman Tebbitt has only amplified what I hear in the post office and local shops. It's a plague on all your houses talk. At least Hazel Blears is coming to the realisation that the game's up. And she's dispensed with the grin. All sombre and serious, mindful of the mire the ones who have taken advantage are in.

Gordon Brown begins to see the light

Gordon Brown has been addressing the Royal College of Nursing conference in Harrogate. He has said sorry in a certain way for the MPs expenses fiasco. I also think he has grasped the public mood, a mood that thinks politicians are corrupted by greed and personal gain. This perception is not wholly accurate, as there are plenty of MPs who have NOT been on the fiddle. Why Alan Johnson is now dubbed the "Sainted Alan Johnson" I do not know. It is a perverse set of morals where someone who has been abusing the trust of the nation whines and opines that it was "all within the rules" and someone who has not abused that trust is personally denigrated.

I thought it a bit rich of Peter Mandelson to give a definition of smearing! "A lot of innuendo....you take a germ of truth, you distort it, in order to turn it into something it isn't..." Wow! Talk of pot calling the kettle black! Mandelson has been the biggest twister of the truth since New Labour was invented. Not just one germ distorted but whole whole swine flu load of the pesky critters! Mandelson's unbelievable, he really is.

Back to Brown. He's been saying sorry of a sort. "We must show that, where mistakes have been made and errors have been discovered, where wrongs have to be righted, that it is done so immediately." Interesting that he equated nursing with political life. The Midwifery Council has just struck off a nurse for revealing horrendous goings on in a hospital. 40,000 people have supported her appeal so far. Is this a wrong that the PM thinks should be righted?

We have a long way to go to get these people into some kind of denial treatment. But the green shoots of moral recovery are starting to be seen.

Hazel Blears can't say sorry!

Hazel Blears says she understands why the public is so enraged. No she doesn't. She hasn't a clue. If she just admitted that she made a misjudgement in claiming expenses to the maximum by going on spending sprees each March the electorate may forgive her. But by saying she has done nothing wrong and complied with the regulations she takes the electorate's views with contempt.

I'm glad to see, though, that she has given the Cheshire Cat's grin back!

Shaun Woodward has more front than Sainsbury's

Shaun Woodward is a cheesy hypocrite. He used to be the Conservative MP for Witney and he became disillusioned with the Tories and saw his chances with the New Labour gang. One of his reasons for leaving the Conservatives was that he thought they were sleazy, both politically and morally.

So this pompous prat got himself a safe Labour seat at St.Helens, a house small enough to exclude his butler, and proceeded to climb the greasy New Labour pole. He's currently Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, which is a sinecure these days considering the Province is run quite ably by the New Chuckle Brothers.

Woodward is no slouch when it comes to money. He managed to get himself into the Sainsbury family's coffers and make himself a very rich man. Now there's nothing wrong with being rich, or making money. It's how you do it that matters. Woodward has a silver tongue in his head which he uses to great advantage. The Tories are well shot of the man. Witney is represented by a better person altogether, David Cameron.

Now we find out that Woodward claimed £100,000 over four years to help pay his mortgage interest, according to leaked details of his expenses in the Daily Telegraph. He probably thought he should get the full whack. Get his expenses maxed out! The honourable thing would be for him to have said he didn't need this money, considering he already has wads of it. I bet the good folk of St.Helens wish they could be on such expenses and allowances, especially with job losses all around them and money being tight. Instead, true to his shoddy credentials, Woodward took the cash to its full allowance.

Why would anyone want to vote Labour?

MPs in cover-up cop sensation!

You have to hand it to these parliamentarians, or at least the ones with their snouts in the trough. They have the brass neck to call in the police to investigate the leak of expenses to the Daily Telegraph. Hold on, you tea leaves! Shouldn't the police be investigating you?

This is a bit like a householder being questioned about the motives of the burgler who just rifled his house. The whole thing is a distasteful waste of police time.

The crooks have already been identified. Take their DNA and get the duty sergeant down at the nick to put them behind bars. Good riddance to bad rubbish!