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A lesson in canvassing
Terry Kirby20 May 2009
London council worker Philip Hanman has the same long-distance weekly commute from Cornwall as his local MP, Andrew George. But while Mr George has a £300,000 flat in Rotherhithe subsidised by the taxpayer, Mr Hanman happily makes do with a £30 tent pitched in Epping Forest, paid for out his own pocket.
Mr Hanman says greedy MP's — including St Ives representative Mr George, who has been accused of allowing his daughter to use his London home — should follow his prudent example, with a sleeping bag and “brew kit”, and wake up amid the rabbits and woodpeckers.
The cost of Mr George's home would, in fact, buy a £30 tent for every MP who claims the second home allowance ... with more than 9,000 left over.
Mr Hanman leaves his home in Penzance every Monday night and drives for eight hours to work from Tuesday to Friday at Barking and Dagenham council. He took the job because of a shortage of work in Cornwall. During the summer months he lives on an Epping Forest campsite.
He said: “I recommend it to the MPs if they want to come and join me at the forest. My local MP Andrew George has a £300,000 second home in Rotherhithe. I have a £30 tent from Lidl.”
He added: “I would very much like him to come out to Epping and share the bliss of the forest and see what life is like outside the sheltered environment of the Palace of Westminster, just to see how ordinary people who have to work a long way from home have to live.”
Mr Hanman, whose wife Giuliana is a languages teacher in Penzance, took the job four years ago. The couple have two young children. He said: “I was offered a job in east London and I thought, that's fine, I'll take it for a while and look for another job. But it turned out to be such a good job with such a good employer that I stayed.
“My employer has been very good to me and allowed me to work four long days each week which at least gives me a long weekend back home in Penzance. Obviously my family would prefer me to work in Cornwall.
“Cornwall is a lovely place and I wouldn't want to live anywhere else but there just isn't the work down there.”
His campsite costs him just £7 a night. He said: “It has great facilities, right in the middle of the forest, surrounded by trees, rabbits, squirrels and a woodpecker or two. The problem is if there is really bad weather and you spend the night in mud and the next day you have got to get up and put on a suit and go to work. But you learn to work around it.”
Reader views (10)
Seeing that all the major parties have had an expenses row, it is time for a clean sheet.
- R Bell, Edinburgh, Scotland, 21/05/2009 17:25
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You think Crash Gordon will go live in tent when he gets back to bonny Scotland after the election, in a year's time?
- Moy, London, 20/05/2009 14:40
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Nu Labor go away! Crash Gordon you have ruined the UK and wasted taxpayer's money only on your own kind.
- Georgie, Islington, London, 20/05/2009 14:02
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Not wishing to minimise Mr Hanman brilliant efforts, can the ES please give us the full story. What does he do during the winter ? The article only speaks of "in the summer months"
- Ed, London, 20/05/2009 12:38
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He deserves his job and a medal, what a work ethic.
Brilliant.
- Val, dagenham, 20/05/2009 12:07
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At last a story that offers the tax payers of this country. Well done Evening standard. I take it by the flag he is a Cornish nationlist and is working to free Cornwall from the nasty english invaders
- Gary, Brentwood, 20/05/2009 11:54
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I like it. It demonstrates that people who are really into their vocation will do whatever they have to do to achieve their goals. Well don Philip Hanman. Rgds Vince
- Vince Stevenson, London, England, 20/05/2009 10:32
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They grow 'em well in Kernow-unless you're a politician.
- S-M Hearmon, London, UK, 20/05/2009 09:54
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I take my hat off to this gentleman. Admirable work ethic.
- Jb, London, 20/05/2009 09:09
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Epping Forest? Surely Barking?
- Dave Davies, Basingstoke, 20/05/2009 09:04
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