Look Back In Anger
The Telegraph newspaper ran a great article yesterday - setting out the timeline and all the key milestones in getting to the truth over the MPs' expenses scandal.
The details are reproduced below which make very interesting reading - looking back - but the key points that jump out at me are:
"Oct 2004 - With the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) about to take effect, the House of Commons takes a step towards openness by publishing each MP's total ACA claim for the first time.
Jan 2005 - Ben Leapman, now the Sunday Telegraph's deputy news editor, asks to see six MPs' expenses receipts under the new FoI law
April 2005 - After the Commons twice rejects the request, the Information Commission begins his investigation.
May 2007 - Tory MP David Maclean tries to exempt Parliament from the FOIA, in a move which would have guaranteed secrecy for MPs' expenses. His attempt fails.
June 2007 - After a two-year delay and extended negotiations with the Commons authorities, the Commissioner puts forward a compromise which would see ACA figures broken down by category but without publication of receipts. Both sides appeal.
Feb 2008 - The Information Tribunal rejects the Commons' case, siding with Leapman and two other campaigners in ruling that the receipts should be published. At the hearing the existence of the "John Lewis list", setting price limits on MPs' household goods purchases, is disclosed.
May 2008 - Senior MPs appeal to the High Court, running up a £150,000 legal bill. Judges uphold the Tribunal's decision, and go further by ordering MPs' addresses to be released. The first receipts are disclosed, for the 14 MPs who were the subject of the test case.
July 2008 - Parliament overturns the High Court decision and exempts MPs' addresses from the FoI Act, despite warnings from campaigners that this could protect MPs who abuse the system.
Nov 2008 - Full publication of a million receipts, covering four years' worth of MPs' expenses, is scheduled then postponed.
Jan 2009 - Harriet Harman, the Leader of the Commons, tries again to exempt MPs' expenses from the FOIA. She fails.
May 8, 2009 - The Daily Telegraph publishes the first revelations in its investigation into MPs' expenses, disclosing the Cabinet's claims including two which were repaid by Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister, and Jack Straw, the Justice Secretary.
May 9, 2009 - More revelations show Barbara Follett, the multi-millionaire tourism minister , has claimed £25,000 for private security patrols around her London home.
May 10, 2009 - The Sunday Telegraph reveals absent Sinn Fein MPs have claimed £500,000 in expenses, including renting properties at above market rates.
May 11, 2009 - Senior members of the shadow Cabinet have "flipped" their second home addresses, allowing them to claim expenses on different addresses. Oliver Letwin, the Tory policy chief, claimed £2,000 to repair a leaking pipe beneath his tennis court. David Cameron, the Tory leader, apologises.
May 12, 2009 - Other senior Tory MPs have claimed for swimming pools, moat clearing and the salaries of domestic staff. Mr Cameron orders his shadow Cabinet to repay controversial sums and sets up an independent scrutiny committee to examine claims by his party's backbenchers. Labour's Hazel Blears, the Communities Secretary, pays £13,000 in capital gains tax she avoided by using the Commons system.
May 13, 2009 - Other MPs begin to repay sums of money, with the total running into six figures.
May 14, 2009 - Disclosures show former Labour minister Elliot Morley claimed £16,000 for a mortgage that had already been paid off. He is suspended from the Parliamentary Labour Party. The first Tory to lose his job over the scandal is Andrew Mackay, a senior parliamentary adviser to Mr Cameron, after it is revealed that he and his wife, a fellow MP, claimed allowances for both their homes.
May 15, 2009 - Shahid Malik, the justice minister, is forced to step down after The Daily Telegraph reveals his Westminster expenses. The Prime Minister orders an inquiry into whether Mr Malik breached the ministerial code over rent on his constituency home. Scotland Yard and the Crown Prosecution Service set up a panel to assess allegations of misuse of expenses claims.
May 16, 2009 - Another "phantom" mortgage is revealed, this time claimed by Labour backbencher David Chaytor claimed £13,000 on a loan he had already repaid.
December 18, 2009 - Sion Simon, the Culture Minister, secretly paid more than £40,000 in taxpayer-funded expenses to his sister, The Daily Telegraph discloses. Mr Simon told parliamentary officials that a rented north London property was his "second home'' for expenses purposes but it was owned by the sister, Ceri Erskine, a management consultant.
January 8, 2010 - It emerges that MPs will continue to profit from their taxpayer-funded expenses after Sir Ian Kennedy, the chairman of the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, the new parliamentary regulator, said he was planning to water down the proposed reforms.
January 30, 2010 - Conservative MP Bernard Jenkin, the MP for North Essex, who was asked to repay more than £63,000 in expenses he claimed for rent paid to his sister-in-law, has the amount almost halved by a judge reviewing MPs' repayment orders.
February 5, 2010 - Sir Thomas Legg reports that hundreds of MPs ignored their own rules to milk a "deeply flawed" expenses system.
March 22, 2010 - Former Labour MP for Strathkelvin and Bearsden, John Lyons, admits over-claiming on his expenses.
April 22, 2010 - Daily Telegraph recognised for breaking MPs’ expenses story by being named National Newspaper of the Year at the Newspaper Awards.
May 29, 2010 - David Laws, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, resigns after The Daily Telegraph discloses that he used taxpayers' money to pay more than £40,000 to his long-term partner in rent.
June 9, 2010 - Campaign group The TaxPayers' Alliance calculates more than 200 MPs who quit or were beaten at last month's general election were entitled to share nearly £10.5million in "golden goodbyes” - an average of £47,853 each.
August 16, 2010 - Twenty-three MPs claw back cash repaid during expenses scandal, including Sir John Butterfill, who charged taxpayers for his servants' quarters, and Cheryl Gillan, who claimed for dog food on her second home expenses.
August 26, 2010 - Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority officials complain about "bullying" and "intimidating" behaviour of MPs, including one male MP who called the new expenses system was a "----ing abortion" during a meeting.
September 16, 2010 - Former Labour minister Shahid Malik broke House of Commons rules by insuring his wife's £8,000 diamond ring on his parliamentary expenses, parliamentary commissioner for standards rules.
September 29, 2010 - Ed Miliband admits that “politics isn't working” in speech to Labour Party conference after confessing that the MPs' expenses scandal had shaken profoundly the public's trust in politicians.
October 22, 2010 - Tory MP Nadine Dorries, who likened MPs' expenses investigation to a "witch-hunt", cleared of wrongly claiming £60,000 in second home allowances.
October 30, 2010 - Secret audit launched by House of Commons into expense claims made by MPs in the run-up to the general election after it emerged that departing politicians received thousands of pounds in "highly questionable" claims."
December 2, 2010 - Supreme Court announces reasons for denying appeal of former Labour MPs David Chaytor, Elliot Morley and Jim Devine against being tried in a criminal court over expenses claims as parliamentary privilege did not cover “ordinary crimes”.
The details are reproduced below which make very interesting reading - looking back - but the key points that jump out at me are:
- How long it took to finally winkle out the truth
- How determined infomation campaigners had to be - to keep the story alive
- How a Labour government - supposedly committed to FOI - resisted every step of the way
- How shamelessly MPs behaved - including the the way in which so many were happy to lie through their teeth
"Oct 2004 - With the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) about to take effect, the House of Commons takes a step towards openness by publishing each MP's total ACA claim for the first time.
Jan 2005 - Ben Leapman, now the Sunday Telegraph's deputy news editor, asks to see six MPs' expenses receipts under the new FoI law
April 2005 - After the Commons twice rejects the request, the Information Commission begins his investigation.
May 2007 - Tory MP David Maclean tries to exempt Parliament from the FOIA, in a move which would have guaranteed secrecy for MPs' expenses. His attempt fails.
June 2007 - After a two-year delay and extended negotiations with the Commons authorities, the Commissioner puts forward a compromise which would see ACA figures broken down by category but without publication of receipts. Both sides appeal.
Feb 2008 - The Information Tribunal rejects the Commons' case, siding with Leapman and two other campaigners in ruling that the receipts should be published. At the hearing the existence of the "John Lewis list", setting price limits on MPs' household goods purchases, is disclosed.
May 2008 - Senior MPs appeal to the High Court, running up a £150,000 legal bill. Judges uphold the Tribunal's decision, and go further by ordering MPs' addresses to be released. The first receipts are disclosed, for the 14 MPs who were the subject of the test case.
July 2008 - Parliament overturns the High Court decision and exempts MPs' addresses from the FoI Act, despite warnings from campaigners that this could protect MPs who abuse the system.
Nov 2008 - Full publication of a million receipts, covering four years' worth of MPs' expenses, is scheduled then postponed.
Jan 2009 - Harriet Harman, the Leader of the Commons, tries again to exempt MPs' expenses from the FOIA. She fails.
May 8, 2009 - The Daily Telegraph publishes the first revelations in its investigation into MPs' expenses, disclosing the Cabinet's claims including two which were repaid by Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister, and Jack Straw, the Justice Secretary.
May 9, 2009 - More revelations show Barbara Follett, the multi-millionaire tourism minister , has claimed £25,000 for private security patrols around her London home.
May 10, 2009 - The Sunday Telegraph reveals absent Sinn Fein MPs have claimed £500,000 in expenses, including renting properties at above market rates.
May 11, 2009 - Senior members of the shadow Cabinet have "flipped" their second home addresses, allowing them to claim expenses on different addresses. Oliver Letwin, the Tory policy chief, claimed £2,000 to repair a leaking pipe beneath his tennis court. David Cameron, the Tory leader, apologises.
May 12, 2009 - Other senior Tory MPs have claimed for swimming pools, moat clearing and the salaries of domestic staff. Mr Cameron orders his shadow Cabinet to repay controversial sums and sets up an independent scrutiny committee to examine claims by his party's backbenchers. Labour's Hazel Blears, the Communities Secretary, pays £13,000 in capital gains tax she avoided by using the Commons system.
May 13, 2009 - Other MPs begin to repay sums of money, with the total running into six figures.
May 14, 2009 - Disclosures show former Labour minister Elliot Morley claimed £16,000 for a mortgage that had already been paid off. He is suspended from the Parliamentary Labour Party. The first Tory to lose his job over the scandal is Andrew Mackay, a senior parliamentary adviser to Mr Cameron, after it is revealed that he and his wife, a fellow MP, claimed allowances for both their homes.
May 15, 2009 - Shahid Malik, the justice minister, is forced to step down after The Daily Telegraph reveals his Westminster expenses. The Prime Minister orders an inquiry into whether Mr Malik breached the ministerial code over rent on his constituency home. Scotland Yard and the Crown Prosecution Service set up a panel to assess allegations of misuse of expenses claims.
May 16, 2009 - Another "phantom" mortgage is revealed, this time claimed by Labour backbencher David Chaytor claimed £13,000 on a loan he had already repaid.
December 18, 2009 - Sion Simon, the Culture Minister, secretly paid more than £40,000 in taxpayer-funded expenses to his sister, The Daily Telegraph discloses. Mr Simon told parliamentary officials that a rented north London property was his "second home'' for expenses purposes but it was owned by the sister, Ceri Erskine, a management consultant.
January 8, 2010 - It emerges that MPs will continue to profit from their taxpayer-funded expenses after Sir Ian Kennedy, the chairman of the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, the new parliamentary regulator, said he was planning to water down the proposed reforms.
January 30, 2010 - Conservative MP Bernard Jenkin, the MP for North Essex, who was asked to repay more than £63,000 in expenses he claimed for rent paid to his sister-in-law, has the amount almost halved by a judge reviewing MPs' repayment orders.
February 5, 2010 - Sir Thomas Legg reports that hundreds of MPs ignored their own rules to milk a "deeply flawed" expenses system.
March 22, 2010 - Former Labour MP for Strathkelvin and Bearsden, John Lyons, admits over-claiming on his expenses.
April 22, 2010 - Daily Telegraph recognised for breaking MPs’ expenses story by being named National Newspaper of the Year at the Newspaper Awards.
May 29, 2010 - David Laws, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, resigns after The Daily Telegraph discloses that he used taxpayers' money to pay more than £40,000 to his long-term partner in rent.
June 9, 2010 - Campaign group The TaxPayers' Alliance calculates more than 200 MPs who quit or were beaten at last month's general election were entitled to share nearly £10.5million in "golden goodbyes” - an average of £47,853 each.
August 16, 2010 - Twenty-three MPs claw back cash repaid during expenses scandal, including Sir John Butterfill, who charged taxpayers for his servants' quarters, and Cheryl Gillan, who claimed for dog food on her second home expenses.
August 26, 2010 - Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority officials complain about "bullying" and "intimidating" behaviour of MPs, including one male MP who called the new expenses system was a "----ing abortion" during a meeting.
September 16, 2010 - Former Labour minister Shahid Malik broke House of Commons rules by insuring his wife's £8,000 diamond ring on his parliamentary expenses, parliamentary commissioner for standards rules.
September 29, 2010 - Ed Miliband admits that “politics isn't working” in speech to Labour Party conference after confessing that the MPs' expenses scandal had shaken profoundly the public's trust in politicians.
October 22, 2010 - Tory MP Nadine Dorries, who likened MPs' expenses investigation to a "witch-hunt", cleared of wrongly claiming £60,000 in second home allowances.
October 30, 2010 - Secret audit launched by House of Commons into expense claims made by MPs in the run-up to the general election after it emerged that departing politicians received thousands of pounds in "highly questionable" claims."
December 2, 2010 - Supreme Court announces reasons for denying appeal of former Labour MPs David Chaytor, Elliot Morley and Jim Devine against being tried in a criminal court over expenses claims as parliamentary privilege did not cover “ordinary crimes”.
