You Heard It Here First!
The Prime Minister, no less, has been called to account over the MPs' expenses scandal.
Gordon Brown has been asked to pay back £12,415 - over 'cleaning' services for his London flat - and has little option now but to get his check book out - and reimburse the public purse for what he should never have claimed in the first place.
£12,415 is an astonishing amount of money to have overclaimed in expenses - but not when you think about it - because why should the tax payer subsidise the private living arrangements of MPs?
Here's what we had to say back in May on this issue - just a pity it's taken so long for others to catch up.
Action 4 Equality Scotland - post dated Sunday 10 May 2009
"Alice in Wonderland"
There’s an Alice in Wonderland feel to the unfolding scandal of MPs expenses.
A standard defence has emerged as government ministers and backbenchers scramble to explain themselves to a bewildered public.
“My claims were all within the rules”, they say, to a man and a woman – as if common sense and good judgment has gone out the window.
MP’s are fully entitled to be reimbursed for costs that they actually incur – in the course of doing their jobs.
And that’s as it should be – unless you happen to live in some sort of parallel universe (formerly known as Westminster) - where the Mad Hatter is clearly in charge of the Tea Party.
How can it possibly be OK – or within the rules - for an MP to charge the public purse for someone to clean his flat?
If an MP leads a very busy life and wants to avoid the everyday drudgery of housework – then he (or she) is perfectly entitled to engage the services of a cleaner.
Lots of people do so - without creating a fuss.
But that’s because the ‘lots of other people’ have to pay the cleaner out of their own hard earned cash – they don’t expect to put it on their expenses claims.
And nor should they - because it has absolutely nothing to do with their jobs.
So, it’s hard to summon up much sympathy for the MPs now on the rack – they have enjoyed living in a surreal world for far too long – a world where common sense can be suspended, or stood on its head, to suit the needs of the storyteller.
In the weeks ahead there are bound to be further revelations – if they have any relevance to the ongoing fight for equal pay, we will let you know.
Gordon Brown has been asked to pay back £12,415 - over 'cleaning' services for his London flat - and has little option now but to get his check book out - and reimburse the public purse for what he should never have claimed in the first place.
£12,415 is an astonishing amount of money to have overclaimed in expenses - but not when you think about it - because why should the tax payer subsidise the private living arrangements of MPs?
Here's what we had to say back in May on this issue - just a pity it's taken so long for others to catch up.
Action 4 Equality Scotland - post dated Sunday 10 May 2009
"Alice in Wonderland"
There’s an Alice in Wonderland feel to the unfolding scandal of MPs expenses.
A standard defence has emerged as government ministers and backbenchers scramble to explain themselves to a bewildered public.
“My claims were all within the rules”, they say, to a man and a woman – as if common sense and good judgment has gone out the window.
MP’s are fully entitled to be reimbursed for costs that they actually incur – in the course of doing their jobs.
And that’s as it should be – unless you happen to live in some sort of parallel universe (formerly known as Westminster) - where the Mad Hatter is clearly in charge of the Tea Party.
How can it possibly be OK – or within the rules - for an MP to charge the public purse for someone to clean his flat?
If an MP leads a very busy life and wants to avoid the everyday drudgery of housework – then he (or she) is perfectly entitled to engage the services of a cleaner.
Lots of people do so - without creating a fuss.
But that’s because the ‘lots of other people’ have to pay the cleaner out of their own hard earned cash – they don’t expect to put it on their expenses claims.
And nor should they - because it has absolutely nothing to do with their jobs.
So, it’s hard to summon up much sympathy for the MPs now on the rack – they have enjoyed living in a surreal world for far too long – a world where common sense can be suspended, or stood on its head, to suit the needs of the storyteller.
In the weeks ahead there are bound to be further revelations – if they have any relevance to the ongoing fight for equal pay, we will let you know.
