Morning:
8°c
Jailed peer claims £100,000 expenses
Paul Waugh, Deputy Political Editor4 Feb 2009
A former Labour MP jailed for fire-raising has claimed £100,000 in Lords expenses while on early release from prison.
Lord Watson, a Labour MP from 1989 to 1997, was jailed for 16 months after setting fire to curtains in an Edinburgh hotel during a drunken incident. But he has claimed up to £308 a day in expenses while on probation from May 2006. He has voted on only about a quarter of the days he attended the Lords, spoke only five times in the past year and has not tabled any written questions.
Despite being expelled by Labour over the conviction, Lord Watson is one of the party's staunchest supporters. The revelation adds to the pressure on the Government to strip peerages from those convicted of criminal offences.
Reader views (9)
'NIGHT and FOG', its the only answer to this kind of insolent impudence from the scum, parliamentary rules should have ONE Golden Rule,criminal prosecution, no exs, no wages, no pension,no gravy, try it on and its Night and Fog, for you, when a couple of them vanish, the others will soon learn,
- Walter Schellenberg, exeter devon, 04/02/2009 19:03
Report abuse
It gets better everytime some one delves into these so called 'lords' Can anyone tell me if you need a criminal record to be given a peerage or do you just join the Labour party?
- Anne,, Devon, 04/02/2009 18:52
Report abuse
Just prosecute him using the IMPEACMENT (UK) Law.
- Frank, Bristol UK, 04/02/2009 15:50
Report abuse
Are the 'expenses' tax free? or just paid Gross but taxable.
Are they justifiable? Should you be able to claim the daily 'expenses' if not in attendance and if you do not vote?
Need to deal with the EU/UK Gravy Trains, far too many onboard.
Standards & Ethics in the Trough?
- AA, UK, 04/02/2009 15:45
Report abuse
What worthless scum the Labour Party seems to attract!
- p.doff, filey uk, 04/02/2009 15:21
Report abuse
He needn't be stripped of his title, merely stopped from sitting in the Lords, the title itself is meaningless.
But you could also argue that he has served his time. What is the punishment for a crime? It is the sentence the judge passes down, you do that then the slate is wiped clean, you are not stripped of everything else in life and punished eternally. He set fire to some curtains, he did not use his position to steal or commit corruption.
- Tom Moncrieff, london W6, 04/02/2009 14:36
Report abuse
Could someone plese expalin why the attendance rate is classed as "expenses" and so is free of tax? Does anyone know if the Inland Revenue allows any other section of society on a simular basis??
- jeremy E, London, 04/02/2009 13:52
Report abuse
He should be stripped of his title.
The UK will never be a classless society if we don't abandon theses mediavel titles, they are ridiculous in the 21st century.
Lord, Baron, Duke etc what popmpous nonsense.
- P I Staker, London, SW8, 04/02/2009 11:51
Report abuse
All convicted criminals must be stripped of their titles. They will be offered gainful employment on the olympic sites. I look forward to seeing them all doing an honest job on the building sites.
- R.F., Yorks, UK, 04/02/2009 11:18
Report abuse
