MPs on the rob

[Alf W]

MPs have voted to suspend Derek Conway for 10 days and order him to return £13,161 of the money he paid his son.

WTF! This guy has been caught robbing taxpayers money to pay for his son to go through Uni and all he gets is 10 days paid leave and a smack on the wrist?

How come he's not been sacked and prosecuted like anyone else in any other job would have been?

[AtW]

WTF! This guy has been caught robbing taxpayers money to pay for his son to go through Uni and all he gets is 10 days paid leave and a smack on the wrist?

How come he's not been sacked and prosecuted like anyone else in any other job would have been?

Honourable Gentleman

[Pinto]

How come he's not been sacked and prosecuted like anyone else in any other job would have been?

They have to be careful this will not open the floodgates. Prosecutions could result in an empty house.

[AlfredJPruffock]

Perhaps - this Honourable Gentleman and his ilk , such as the former Tax Inspector whom graced these pages recently - epitomise the NL generation - decent Hard Working Family orientated people - or on the other hand - cynical freeloaders who sould stoop at noting to further their own shoddy ends?

NB any reference to His Holiness Pope Blairius is intentional and should be treated as such - whilst the Pope owns 54 per cent of General Motors - and the Stock Exchange is the only thing qualified to quote us - by chanting the names of the Lord and you'll be free

[Peoplesoft bloke]

With any luck this will finally put paid to the secrecy that surrounds MPs gravy train of expenses and allowances. They don't want to release details apparently because they don't want the press picking over the details of what they get up to. I can see that, up to point - but it's not as if we are asking what they spend their salaries on - just what extra stuff they are claiming, and since we're paying, I don't mind the papers investigating that a bit.

They have to come clean now.

[AlfredJPruffock]

On second thoughts - to insist that the financial affairs of MPs should be transparent could undermine the democratic concept of Corinthian self regulation - at worse some taxayers money could be emblezzled - at any rate Tax Payers money would only be wasted on some outlandish public works project or invading some foreign country or other.

[KathyWoolfe]

WTF! This guy has been caught robbing taxpayers money to pay for his son to go through Uni and all he gets is 10 days paid leave and a smack on the wrist?

How come he's not been sacked and prosecuted like anyone else in any other job would have been?

You're surprised at all this sleaze?

Private Eye has been reporting this stuff all the time and I'm disgusted at what the people in power (supposedly for the good of the people not in power) get up to

[AlfredJPruffock]

Which was the greater Crime ?

July 2007: George Galloway, MP for Bethnal Green and Bow, Respect. Work on the Mariam Appeal, the campaign he set up to oppose UN sanctions on Iraq. Suspended for 18 days.

Jan 2008 Derek Conway embezzling Tax Payers money - suspended for 10 days

Remember folks - Its your vote that doesn't count ...

[PAH]

You're surprised at all this sleaze?

Private Eye has been reporting this stuff all the time and I'm disgusted at what the people in power (supposedly for the good of the people not in power) get up to

I'm disgusted we can't use the same excuses ourselves.

For instance, in a few weeks time HMRC will say they've not received my self-assessment, so here's a £100 fine. But I can't say it was lost in the post, sorry, won't happen again, slap my wrist instead.

[KathyWoolfe]

For instance, in a few weeks time HMRC will say they've not received my self-assessment, so here's a £100 fine. But I can't say it was lost in the post, sorry, won't happen again, slap my wrist instead.

Not even if you have proof of posting - recorded delivery etc?

You should have done it online. Then you wouldn't suffer from this.