The snot goblin says "Sorry"

[expat]

just for the sake of balance, I will quote Tory Alan Duncan, who said “every MP must apologise for what has arisen over time”.

No Alan, it didn't "arise over time". You did it.

[Menelaus]

I think that we, their employers, should pay every last penny of the cost of their London houses. Then when they leave parliament, we keep the house. And the bathroom fittings and all.

It'd be a way of ensuring that the tax take could be reduced (very) slightly!

[CheeseSlice]

Hazel Blears is the worst, with her egregious claims, a simple defence that it is all within the rules, and then a brazen attempt to portray herself as someone rushing to the rescue to change the system.

<Rant>
This didn't surprise me one bit, Hazel blears oozes smugness and impertinence. Quoting her from a weekly Question Time earlier this year on the recession / banking crisis, she asked the unhappy audience "Who can't say they didn't have a good time over the last 10 years?". As if it was 'Ok' that we are all now in a hideous recession, the worst since the 1930's, because we had all lived it up over the last 10 years riding the boom. Whilst correct that times have been (abnormally) good, it is completley immoral to imply that this recession was somehow just a minor inconvenience, worth taking the hit, or that we're just ungrateful etc. The UK doesn't need people like this in government office.
</Rant>

On a note more related this this thread, why does the independent expenses audit have to cost so much?

"The new body would be entirely independent and cost about £600,000 a year to run"

I'll do it for £100k

[expat]

Shut up and pay your fair share of tax.

It's only fair. Hazel Blears can have one principal residence for tax purposes but a different one for expenses purposes. Likewise we can be employees for tax purposes but not for benefits purposes.

[BrowneIssue]

On a note more related this this thread, why does the independent expenses audit have to cost so much?

"The new body would be entirely independent and cost about £600,000 a year to run"

I'll do it for £100k

I wouldn't. To manage the expenses for 600+ MPs plus the same again in the Lords I'd want:

6 clerical staff at about £18k = £108k
1 filing clerk at about £14k = £14k
one HEO to manage them = £35k
one accountancy-qualified HEO = £38k
one SEO to manage the HEOs = £42k

total £237k. Then add employer's NI and stuff, call it £260.

Then add a Senior Civil Servant (salary confidential) as section head at, say, £110k
Then a Chief Executive for the Expenses Agency - another a Senior Civil Servant (salary confidential) - at, say, £180k including their annual bonus.

That's about £527k

Then there's £100k for the management consultancy and another £300k for EDS.

It simply cannot be done for less than £1m per year.

[Cyberman]

Hazel Blears had three 'second' homes in one year in order to exploit expenses on them and to sell them on for a profit after refurbishment. She must be made to repay the funds that she embezzled and serve a prison sentence.

[Cyberman]

just for the sake of balance, I will quote Tory Alan Duncan, who said “every MP must apologise for what has arisen over time”.

No Alan, it didn't "arise over time". You did it.

Repay the money that you stole Alan. I have written to your boss on this subject yesterday.

[BoredBloke]

I wouldn't. To manage the expenses for 600+ MPs plus the same again in the Lords I'd want:

6 clerical staff at about £18k = £108k
1 filing clerk at about £14k = £14k
one HEO to manage them = £35k
one accountancy-qualified HEO = £38k
one SEO to manage the HEOs = £42k

total £237k. Then add employer's NI and stuff, call it £260.

Then add a Senior Civil Servant (salary confidential) as section head at, say, £110k
Then a Chief Executive for the Expenses Agency - another a Senior Civil Servant (salary confidential) - at, say, £180k including their annual bonus.

That's about £527k

Then there's £100k for the management consultancy and another £300k for EDS.

It simply cannot be done for less than £1m per year.

Or they could employ me for much less and I'll sit there saying no and recording a big fat zero in my excel spreadsheet.

[HairyArsedBloke]

Or they could employ me for much less and I'll sit there saying no and recording a big fat zero in my excel spreadsheet.

They have a .... sitting there called Malcolm Jack that says YES and gets to live in a posh pad for his trouble.