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Brown pays the price of fiasco over MPs’ expenses
Joe Murphy28 Apr 2009
Gordon Brown was under mounting criticism over the Commons expenses fiasco today, with Labour MPs and ministers attacking bad decision-making at No10.
Senior figures warned he had been damaged by the forced U-turn on giving MPs a tax-free £140 a day for turning up at Westminster.
Former home secretary Charles Clarke accused Mr Brown of trying to "bully" the Commons into a crackdown by "dictat".
"I think it is very damaging," he said, adding that reforms were needed.
Former minister Mark Fisher said the issue had harmed Mr Brown, adding: "He can recover from this, but he has got a lot of hard work to do."
He criticised Downing Street aides: "They gave him very bad advice ... I think the young advisers at Downing Street simply didn't understand the relationship between MPs and Government."
One Labour adviser demanded: "Where is the chief of staff figure at No10 who can spot these banana skins before it is too late? Where is the Jonathan Powell or Alastair Campbell figure?"
Mr Brown aims to salvage some political capital by pushing through other expenses reforms in a vote on Thursday, including scrapping the second home allowance for outer London MPs.
Click on the map to see a larger image
The Standard today learned that a total of 54 MPs from around the capital will lose the right to claim the allowance.
The final list hits those whose seats fall entirely within a 20-mile radius of Westminster.
Unexpectedly, it includes five from outside the Greater London boundary.
Inner London MPs are unaffected as they were already only able to claim the London supplementary allowance, an additional £2,812 of pay, which rose to £7,500 this year. Some outer London MPs also chose to claim the allowance instead. One of the losers, David Wilshire, the MP for Spelthorne, said: "I feel that after 21 years of working hard for my constituency I have been kicked in the teeth.
"I have a flat with a £300,000 mortgage and I do not know what I will do with it. I live five days a week at Westminster, chairing meetings every day. If I worked a nine-to-five day I would commute happily - but I don't work normal hours." Shadow home secretary Chris Grayling, the MP for Epsom & Ewell, claimed more than £15,000 in 2007 and £11,000 last year for a "crash pad" near the Commons. "This will make my life more complicated but I accept that the rules are changing," he said. Labour's Claire Ward, MP for Watford, who claimed the maximum amount of £23,083 for a second home, said: "I recognise the need for changes."
Reader views (19)
I think I am correct in saying that no tax is payable on any gains (no comments please!) on the disposal of a property which is the "sole or main residence". So if an MP claims for the purposes of expenses that their "main home" is the back bedroom in their sister's house will the disposal of the "other house" where the family lives fall within the tax system?
- Jb, London, 28/04/2009 17:48
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Shame on you David Wilshire, "I have a flat with a £300,000 mortgage and I do not know what I will do with it. I live five days a week at Westminster, chairing meetings every day". Anybody who earns the sort of salary you do doesn't work a normal 9-5 job. Claiming for a taxi after 9pm is standard corporate policy and I'd be fine with that.
- Mark, London, 28/04/2009 17:40
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Kate - you are spot on. these are the blood sucking parasites. I would love for someone to offer me £150 per day to motivate me to go to work - any job offers out there?
Wishful thinking.
- Dina, London, 28/04/2009 17:33
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Nobby Clark, Perth - Surely you are not suggesting that Jacqui Smith's husband pays for his pay-per-view porn out of his own pocket? Unthinkable!
- R.F., Yorks, UK, 28/04/2009 17:00
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What naive idiot believes the other 600 odd MPs are going to vote to take a £23,000 pay cut. They will merely change the labels. It's two fingers up to the voters who they hold in complete contempt.
- Sid, hull, 28/04/2009 16:38
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How on earth can Chris Grayling claim for a "crash pad"? Epsom is 30 minutes by train from Victoria, which is 5 minutes by bus from Westminster, a fairly easy commutes by any Londoners standards.
- Bob, Cheam, 28/04/2009 16:18
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Mr. Brown had a great financial legacy left by the previous tory government, which he tried over the years to claim credit for, but as soon as the good days went,i.e. the present trouble, he is like a fish out of water, he cant solve the parliament expenses fiasco, because most of the parliament have their noses in the trough.
- John Hamilton, st.ives Cornwall, 28/04/2009 16:15
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One must consider Brown as arrogant and that is to put it mildly.
He is supposed to serve the country not his own EGO
- Mike B, Lincoln uk, 28/04/2009 16:09
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Pssst! anyone want to buy a house 21 miles from Westminster.
Going at an inflated price to the best offer from an MP.
- Simon, London, 28/04/2009 16:06
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Oh Dear Oh Dear, now it starts to get really messy for the hidden income boys.
- Enuff, London, 28/04/2009 15:54
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So those who do it properly are to be penalised for the ones who damage the reputation of Parliament. In short, it is a problem of their own making. If they policed themselves and actually told the offenders that they were breaking the spirit of the rules, I might offer sympathy. As it is their is a hard core bringing the house into disrepute and as the House wont bring them to book then option two, Voting them out and onto the dole queue seems the best thing to do.
- Dene Wood, Grays, Essex, That little country by the sea that used to have, 28/04/2009 15:49
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Janet Anderson, the Labour MP for Rosendale and Darwen in Lancashire, also claims excessive amounts for travel expenses. In 2007, she was widely criticised for her travel expenses. She'd claimed over £16,000 for mileage, more than any other MP. It equates to driving more than 60,000 miles. That's the equivalent of five return trips to her constituency every two weeks. Two years on, her travel claims remains high. Her latest expenses claims show she put in for £11,996 for mileage which equates to, just short of, 42,000 miles.
All this money is paid on top of her accommodation expenses and MP's pay.
- Kate, London, 28/04/2009 15:39
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The word "politics" is derived from two words, poly, meaning "many", and tics, as in "blood-sucking parasites".
Take the example of Janet Anderson, the Labour MP for Rosendale and Darwen in Lancashire, and her claims for accommodation allowance. Her latest claim in that category was for £23,039. Janet Anderson has told her local paper that the home she owns in her Darwin constituency is the home she claims on. According to the land registry documents, she's had this house since 1993. There is no purchase price listed, but the average cost for similar properties at the time was £35,000. So 16 years on, how is Janet Anderson necessarily incurring over £23,000 in accommodation expenses in order to fulfill her parliamentary duties? That's a total (so far) of £368,00, which has paid for her house (so far) 10.5 times over. If she claims again for this year, the taxpayer will have paid for her house 11.1 times over. We can't see the details of her claim, but it could be for mortgage interest, or bills and maintenance, or perhaps she's been refurbishing her house with bits from the John Lewis list. But could these things really add up to over 50% of the original house price each and every year?
On each and every occasion she is asked about all this, she remains as silent as a blood-sucking parasite.
- Kate, London, 28/04/2009 15:34
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OH Dear How much longer have we to suffer ths most Dupplicitious man who has Made the Commons a really DISHONOURABLE House Not long I hope????
- George Green, BRIDG.END S/WALES, 28/04/2009 15:29
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The expenses rules could be drawn up on the back of an old envelope: those who attend parliament claim overnight accommodation in a hotel. No patio heaters, barbeques, bath plugs, sinks or pornographic films - and no "main" homes in sister's spare rooms. When those who have abused the system lose their seats at the next election (which they undoubtedly will) then the "second homes" which tax payers have paid for and furnished must be sold and the money returned to the treasury. To Mr. Wilshire I would say - if you have been claiming housing allowance for 21 years then 21 x 23,000 = £483,000. I reckon tax payers have paid your mortgage in total!
- R.F., Yorks, UK, 28/04/2009 15:28
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People have had enough of Gordon Brown. He isn't honest and can't admit to mistakes - which is a shame since he is largely incompetent.
The Labour Party will not end the nightmare that is Gordon brown, so we have to do it ourselves - here is the petition to remove Brown:
http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/please-go/
- Jonathan Cook, Winchfield, 28/04/2009 15:23
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"I recognise the need for change" so do we Claire !
- Wills, Soton, 28/04/2009 15:19
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Gordon Brown is an absolute fiasco and disaster as Prime Minister. He only got away with his utter incompetence previously beacuse he lived in the shadow of Blair. However, it is clear he is going to cling to power until the very last humiliating moment, when the public will give him a very big Order of the Boot.
- Neil45, Gloucestershire, England., 28/04/2009 15:12
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Haven't these "hard working" MPs ever heard of hotels?
They cater for the travelling businessman who needs to work late and stay away from home. And for Jacqui Smith's husband, they even offer pay-per-view porn.
- Nobby Clark, Perth, Scotland, 28/04/2009 15:12
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