Payback Time
Baroness Uddin - the Labour peer suspended by the House of Lords for making false expenses claims - says she can't afford to pay the £125,000 she has been ordered to pay back.
Last week the House of Lords suspended the Baroness for 18 months - until Easter 2012 - but after that she will be free to return and claim her £300 a day 'attendance allowance'.
See the previous post dated 18 October 2010 - 'Lording It Up' - for all the gory details.
The House of Lords apparently felt sorry for the Baroness - because they overturned a harsher recommendation from a sub-committee which said she should be banned for at least three years and not be allowed to return until she had paid the full amount back.
Incredibly the Baroness told the appeal that "she does not have the means to repay" the money - despite owning three homes - including subsidised social housing in London, a flat in Maidstone and a large family villa in Bangladesh.
The Sunday Times reported yesterday that Baroness Uddin was not at her London home or flat in Kent and that her lawyers - Thompsons Solicitors - did not return calls.
Last week the House of Lords suspended the Baroness for 18 months - until Easter 2012 - but after that she will be free to return and claim her £300 a day 'attendance allowance'.
See the previous post dated 18 October 2010 - 'Lording It Up' - for all the gory details.
The House of Lords apparently felt sorry for the Baroness - because they overturned a harsher recommendation from a sub-committee which said she should be banned for at least three years and not be allowed to return until she had paid the full amount back.
Incredibly the Baroness told the appeal that "she does not have the means to repay" the money - despite owning three homes - including subsidised social housing in London, a flat in Maidstone and a large family villa in Bangladesh.
The Sunday Times reported yesterday that Baroness Uddin was not at her London home or flat in Kent and that her lawyers - Thompsons Solicitors - did not return calls.
