Expenses Row Latest; MP ‘claimed for trough’

[Eddie]

Senior backbencher Sir Peregrine Hawker has defended his expenses claim for £3400 to have a diamond-encrusted trough installed in the garden of his second home. ‘I have to have something to stick my nose in,’ he told reporters; ‘It is an essential part of an MP’s work.’
The Speaker of the House of Commons confirmed that, under the present rules the claim for the top-of-the-range trough from Harrods was within the rules, as was Sir Peregrine’s claim for £560 travel expenses relating to an actual train made of gravy. ‘How else am I expected to visit my constituency from my London flat in Easy Street?’ fumed the irate MP. ‘The parts for my private helicopter have still not come through - although I have of course already recouped the cost of them on my accountant’s advice.’
Amongst the other items claimed by Sir Peregrine were a special oven for cooking books, an electronic biscuit-taker, £270 for an overnight stay in a hotel whilst attending a course in nest-feathering, £95 for a passport in the name of Riley, and £135 miscellaneous expenses incurred ‘because I can.’ Other MPs have been criticized after claiming for both having their cake and for eating it.
In a separate development, it has been ruled that taxpayers are now allowed to use MPs’ swimming pools since it was them who paid for them in the first place. Queues of young families clutching towels and inflatables have been forming at the private homes of Members of Parliament. Parents are reported to be more relaxed than usual on the rule that their children should leave the pool to go to the toilet; ‘The MPs been taking the p£$$ for so long, it only seems fair that our kids should put a little bit back.’

[Ayrobat]

Excellent.

[Mark_T]

There is a huge irony in finding journalists getting all 'moral' about MP expense claims.

If there is any other group out there who would stand a better chance of winning the 'Booker Prize for Fiction' with their expense claims it is the journalists themselves

[Richard H]

Superb

[cap232]

i think its all wrong for mp's to be allowed to claim such stupid amounts of expeses on person stuff the way they do if they can afford to buy it in the first place why should they need to claim the money back from tax payers.

simple answer is...... if they cant afford to buy something don't buy it and expect the tax payers to foot the bill.

no waonder this country is in so much financial trouble if the tax payer's money is paying for the way they live in stead of being use to get the country out of reccession.

[tourerjim]

As one reporter said this is just the crust of it all.

[moyesboy]

We pay income tax on our income.
We are reimbursed for expenses we incurr during our work - travelling costs, food and hotel during working trips, materials like printer ink and paper etc.
As there is NO NET INCOME from the expenses they are not taxed.
Travelling costs can only be claimed for travel other than between your home and your normal place of work. Payment for personal car use above the limit of 40p/mile (set years ago and not adjusted for recent petrol increases) is illegal . Any provision of goods beyond what is actually used for work is payment in kind and is taxable.

As anyone who runs a business large or small knows, what can be legally paid in expenses is extremely complex and administering the system takes a lot of effort. Where I work we wanted to have a flat rate of so much a day ("emoluments") for the guys when they travel to make it simpler (doing the expenses is a while days work each time they come back!) but the tax office refused to allow that. Businesses have no choice but to make sure everything is done correctly or the directors will end up in prison for tax fraud.

So when an PM stands there and says "its salary in all but name" I am truely shocked. Why don't I just take a big salary cut and get paid in tax free expenses? Because to do that is illegal and I would be prosecuted within 12 months for sure.

One rule for us, another for them.
Not only should the MPs repay all they have illegally claimed above what is allowed by the tax office as expenses for the self employed and small business, but the Revenue should also investigate every MP's expenses claimed through the companies they work for, and the same for all the ex-MPs on those 5 figure gravy train jobs they walk into when they retire. They have been making illegal expense claims for years as MPs and I'm sure it doesn't stop when they are working in their consultancy jobs afterwards.

[Ade_Law]

the whole political system needs to be thrown in the bin and start again. I bet you any money a board of directors on a company dont have meetings like the BS time wasting tradition based crap that goes on in the commons. Dig a mass grave and put house of lords in it whilst your at it.

there needs to be a "non of the above" box on voting slips.

Ade

[Brian Gifford]

there needs to be a "non of the above" box on voting slips.

Ade

Quite agree, Ade. Guy Fawkes had the right idea!

[kluson]

We pay income tax on our income.
We are reimbursed for expenses we incurr during our work - travelling costs, food and hotel during working trips, materials like printer ink and paper etc.
As there is NO NET INCOME from the expenses they are not taxed.
Travelling costs can only be claimed for travel other than between your home and your normal place of work. Payment for personal car use above the limit of 40p/mile (set years ago and not adjusted for recent petrol increases) is illegal . Any provision of goods beyond what is actually used for work is payment in kind and is taxable.

As anyone who runs a business large or small knows, what can be legally paid in expenses is extremely complex and administering the system takes a lot of effort. Where I work we wanted to have a flat rate of so much a day ("emoluments") for the guys when they travel to make it simpler (doing the expenses is a while days work each time they come back!) but the tax office refused to allow that. Businesses have no choice but to make sure everything is done correctly or the directors will end up in prison for tax fraud.

So when an PM stands there and says "its salary in all but name" I am truely shocked. Why don't I just take a big salary cut and get paid in tax free expenses? Because to do that is illegal and I would be prosecuted within 12 months for sure.

One rule for us, another for them.
Not only should the MPs repay all they have illegally claimed above what is allowed by the tax office as expenses for the self employed and small business, but the Revenue should also investigate every MP's expenses claimed through the companies they work for, and the same for all the ex-MPs on those 5 figure gravy train jobs they walk into when they retire. They have been making illegal expense claims for years as MPs and I'm sure it doesn't stop when they are working in their consultancy jobs afterwards.

Excellent post about time these money grabbing power monkeys were exposed.
I claim expenses in my work and have to sign to say that they are true as do MP's by the way! Amazing how many "mistakes" are being found, this is just fraud,and theft, in any other job you would be sacked and the Inland revenue would be all over you like a rash. I cannot accept that they all made so many mistakes . If these people are not capable of filling in and signing an expense form they certainly should not be trusted to run our country. They really are a disgrace, however I am not in the slightest bit shocked. It makes me laugh that they are all saying how wrong it is now they've been caught with their hands in the till! And another thing why are they all so keen to pay it back? If they are legitimate expenses! ... easy they are all riddled with guilt and they will lose their seat which is just a gravy train. Sorry for the rant, but we've got brave lads and lasses out in Afghanistan putting their lives on the line without the proper kit and some idiot MP has just made a claim to have his moat cleaned.

Sorry for the rant

[Adrian]

I wonder how it would go if we (tax paying underdogs) would refuse to pay say our council tax and blew it on the house ,then said "oh you cant have it as ive spent it on me house"!! Bunch of f@@*%$£ ass wipes all of them......

[Mart61]

Whilst I have never, in my 30 odd years of working for a living, fiddled my expenses, if my job legitimately entitled me to claim for certain things then I made dammed sure I claimed for them.

Whilst I never claimed for expenses I had not incurred, you can bet you bottom dollar that, had I have incurred an expense that I could claim for under the rules of my employment contract, then I'd have claimed for it.

Whilst some of the things these MPs have claimed for may be taking the mickey, I suspect it was the rules that were wrong and not necessarily all of the claimants.

Whoever it was in authority that approved any expenses that were questionable should be held to account.

Things I've bought on expenses:

• Beer
• Food
• More beer
• a lovely Fender Stratocaster guitar
• did I mention beer?
• Wine
• Wife allowance
• Child allowance
• travel allowance
• Personal effects storage
• Electricity
• Water
• Phone
• Hotel movies
• Taxis
• Coffee
• etc

[moyesboy]

a lovely Fender Stratocaster guitar

that a legit expense for a professional musician! Similarly the beer. But I didn't think rock stars needed food, just the beer - and presumably the "wife allowance" is for someone elses wife

"hotel movies" - nudge nudge wink wink say no more....wasn't that where all this expenses row started?

[Mart61]

It was Bambi I was was watching! Honest Guv!

The Strat was as a result of a five day business trip to London. I was paid a "per diem" (a daily rate for being in London, from which you had to pay for everything). So, instead of staying in a London hotel, I stayed in a B&B in Slough, got a courtesy bus into the City and ate at MacD. As a result I saved almost £500 from my per diem and bought the Strat!



The point I was trying to make here is that, if our bosses came up to us one day and said "Hey, you can now claim for your gardening expenses, laundry, mobile fone bills, cleaning, decorating, etc etc etc", most of us would fill in that claim form. And those of you that say you wouldn't then more fool you!

[Mark_T]

The point I was trying to make here is that, if our bosses came up to us one day and said "Hey, you can now claim for your gardening expenses, laundry, mobile fone bills, cleaning, decorating, etc etc etc", most of us would fill in that claim form. And those of you that say you wouldn't then more fool you!

While I'd agree that is true, the case in point is more like letting the employees set their own expense policy then acting surprised when they claim for the moat clearance and trimming the hedge around the heli-pad

If the policies had not been set by the MPs themselves I doubt they'd be in this mess right now.