They Still Don’t Get It – Chapter 2

Imagine my delight when I came across the following little gem on the Telegraph website tonight:

“Immunity for MPs who repay expenses"

"MPs who have admitted breaking expenses rules have been offered secret Parliamentary deals to repay the money without being identified, the Daily Telegraph can disclose.

Dozens of MPs are understood to have paid back money without their names or abuses being disclosed to the public following the fast-tracked inquiries into their conduct.

The disclosure about the secret justice system will add to growing concerns over the safeguards in place to punish MPs found to have misused public funds.

The behind closed doors system means voters are not being told if their MP has inappropriately claimed thousands of pounds for their second home, office or travel.

The loophole was introduced in 2005 under the auspices of Michael Martin, the discredited former speaker.

John Lyon, the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, has begun the widespread use of a controversial “rectification procedure” which undermines pledges from party leaders to give the public “transparency” over their MPs’ expense claims.

It can be disclosed that Janet Anderson, a Labour MP, was allowed to secretly repay almost £6,000 last year for over-claiming “petty cash” on her taxpayer-funded expenses.

But 16 MPs also made secret repayments in the 2008/09 financial year and there are fears that dozens of politicians embroiled in the expenses scandal have agreed similar arrangements.” (12/01/2010) For more go to http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news

Why do they continue to behave in such a stupid and short-sighted manner? Why do they treat us with such contempt? Do they think we have the recall of a goldfish on speed?

Let us make a start by letting this fool of a Parliamentary Commissioner know what we think of his secret deals or ‘rectification procedures,’ and that we demand transparency.

He can be contacted at: standardscommissioner@parliament.uk (email) or write to:

Office of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards


House of Commons


London SW1A 0AA

And then? How about an election?

As soon as possible.