M’Lord Taylor was found guilty of cheating on his expenses yesterday by a jury of oiks. “The 58-year-old, who was ennobled by the Conservative party, was said to be "devastated" after a seven-man, five-woman jury today convicted him of dishonestly claiming £11,277 in allowances by an 11-1 majority verdict.
The barrister and sometime television presenter had falsely claimed travel and overnight subsistence by telling the Lords members' expenses office that his main residence was in Oxford, when he had only one address in Ealing, west London.
He told jurors at Southwark crown court, London, he was following advice given to him by fellow peers that it was acceptable to nominate a main residence outside the capital and claim the allowances "in lieu of salary". Guardian 26/1/2011
Anyone remember this fine upstanding role model? 'Baroness Uddin should repay £125,349 "to which she was not entitled" - saying claims were "made wrongly and in bad faith" - and be suspended until the end of the current parliamentary session, around Easter 2012.’ BBC Online 18/10/10
Now this is over 12 times as much as Taylor has been done for. Has she been arrested and charged with fraud? Or is she doing her ‘time’ suspended from the House of Frauds until 2012?
Chator, Taylor, Uddin and Illsley; are they the tip of a giant iceberg? Or are we coming to the end of the fiddling culture? Anyone who thinks the latter should contemplate the Balls-Cooper combo. They flipped their home three times to gain maximum benefit at our expense. Where are they now? Newly promoted Shadow Chancellor and Shadow Home secretary. Now that is a punishment.
And Osborne and his tax avoiding chums? All gone quiet squire. Many of our so-called betters must be breathing a sigh of relief as these small fry hit the headlines.
For they, the movers and shapers, continue to get away with it.
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