Home Sweet (Designated) Home
When is a home not a home?
When you're an MP, of course - and able to designate your real family home as your 'second' home - thus allowing you to pocket £116,000 in accomodation allowances, courtesy of the tax payer.
Despite the fact that her children and husband lived in the family home in Redditch (15 miles south of Birmingham) - Jacqui Smith took full advantage of the MPs' expenses regime and claimed that her main home was a bedroom in her sister's house in London.
Sounds crazy to most normal people - but not the former Labour Home Secretary.
After a formal House of Commons inquiry found against the 'honourable' member for Redditch - she was forced to apologise yesterday - but did so with little grace and even less enthusiasm.
Jacqui Smith took comfort in the fact that she was not ordered to pay back money because the inquiry found: "it is impossible to quantify" what the financial implications are or establish "with any certainty whether the taxpayer is any worse or better off as a result."
The decision not to order Jacqui Smith to repay tens of thousands of pounds sounds incredible - until, of course, you learn that this was taken by a committee of fellow MPs - and not the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards who carried out the investigation.
An independent official conducted the inquiry - but significantly other honourable members determined what penalty to impose on their colleague.
The real issue is the personal gain made by MPs such as Jacqui Smith - who put these huge sums of money towards their own personal living costs.
The scandal is that they are making a personal profit from what amounts to a scam - instead of being reimbursed for real costs - for money they've actually spent - because that's what expenses are supposed to be about.
Jacqui Smith said: "I am disappointed that this process has not led to a fairer set of conclusions, based on objective and consistent application of the rules as they were at the time."
How's that for humble pie?
Let's hope the voters in Redditch are paying close attention.
When you're an MP, of course - and able to designate your real family home as your 'second' home - thus allowing you to pocket £116,000 in accomodation allowances, courtesy of the tax payer.
Despite the fact that her children and husband lived in the family home in Redditch (15 miles south of Birmingham) - Jacqui Smith took full advantage of the MPs' expenses regime and claimed that her main home was a bedroom in her sister's house in London.
Sounds crazy to most normal people - but not the former Labour Home Secretary.
After a formal House of Commons inquiry found against the 'honourable' member for Redditch - she was forced to apologise yesterday - but did so with little grace and even less enthusiasm.
Jacqui Smith took comfort in the fact that she was not ordered to pay back money because the inquiry found: "it is impossible to quantify" what the financial implications are or establish "with any certainty whether the taxpayer is any worse or better off as a result."
The decision not to order Jacqui Smith to repay tens of thousands of pounds sounds incredible - until, of course, you learn that this was taken by a committee of fellow MPs - and not the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards who carried out the investigation.
An independent official conducted the inquiry - but significantly other honourable members determined what penalty to impose on their colleague.
The real issue is the personal gain made by MPs such as Jacqui Smith - who put these huge sums of money towards their own personal living costs.
The scandal is that they are making a personal profit from what amounts to a scam - instead of being reimbursed for real costs - for money they've actually spent - because that's what expenses are supposed to be about.
Jacqui Smith said: "I am disappointed that this process has not led to a fairer set of conclusions, based on objective and consistent application of the rules as they were at the time."
How's that for humble pie?
Let's hope the voters in Redditch are paying close attention.
