Need Or Greed?

[Just-Jude]

Does poor Tory MP Liam Fox need every penny he can get? Is Camerons cuts forcing him into poverty?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-24420681

[jno]

that's 100 yards - he was probably using it to drive to the postbox to mail his expenses claim.

[ChillDoubt]

I suspect this is probably as a result of an over-zealous accountant who has taken 'transparency' in respect of these claims into another dimension.

[Zacs-Master]

Greed. Puts him in a different light. One shocking fact is the £23 million claimed by MPs. That's an average of over £35 thousand each!

[Just-Jude]

"over-zealous accountant" or an overpaid MP with too much time on his hands, making these ludicrous claims for expenses?

[LazyGun]

The BBC article focuses on Liam Fox and those claims for minuscule amounts. I do not object to MPs claiming their entitlement for business mileage etc., but I am fascinated by the way such distances of 100M or what have you are measured :)

I found the sister piece in the Telegraph rather more interesting and disturbing as well, to be honest, looking at the degree of what amounts to nepotism that goes on with MPs - hiring wives, children etc as PAs or Research Assistants on what are really quite generous salaries - reports of £40K per annum, much of which will feed back into the MPs own pocket, essentially.

Hiring of PAs and secretaries should be open, advertised and transparent in my view, not perks to be distributed as the MP sees fit essentially to benefit their own pocket.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/mps-expenses/10306675/MPs-expenses-surpass-pre-scandal-levels-as-150-give-jobs-to-family.html

[sandyRoe]

In NI they excuse their nepotism by saying there's more security to be had in employing family members. You'd think hiring someone from the same political party would be secure enough.

[aelmpvw]

i think he's missed a trick ... he should be claiming for the shoeleather used from his door to the chauffeur driven car

[Svejk]

Never mind, jude. If they get their hands on the press you'll never see this kind of story again.

[FredPuli43]

Really, svejk ? Why and how?

[Svejk]

Not much point re-hashing things with you, Fred. You have your opinion and I have mine.

[Brenden]

My thoughts entirely Svejk

[Gromit]

He had to pay back £3000 for fiddling his expenses, so he is being a twit by meticulously accounting for every penny. Or 3p.

Probably trying to make a point that is lost on everyone else.

[youngmafbog]

So is he lying when he says his office does it not him?

But yes, I suspect all politicians across the political spectrum are being far more cautious now even though this is to the extreme. I certainly would be.

[FredPuli43]

Someone must be doing the calculations, and someone must be telling them that he has visited a cement works a short distance from home, and that distance is work expenditure. I wonder who that last person is? If it's the MP , it's a wonder he has time for such petty calculations.

[LazyGun]

Its probably that Werrity chap - the one that landed Liam in all that bother a year or so ago Fred :)

[Sqad]

For God's sake it is 3p...........three bloody p........what a load of irrelevant posts concerning 3p.

I'm my opinion of course...

[Svejk]

Lol Sqad, take 50g ibuprofen and have a lie down in a darkened room.
That's my diagnosis, of course.

[Quizmonster]

Sqad, I'd imagine you must have heard the Scottish saying, "Mony a mickle maks a muckle" or its English equivalent.
Sure, this is a reference to Fox's claim for one payment of 3p, but how many of them does he (or his office) make? Maybe it's just a petty-minded determination to get back what he had to repay after falsely claiming it in the past, eh?

[Sqad]

Quizmonster.......;-)......c'mon.

\\\\Need Or Greed?\\\

He doesn't NEED 3p.........if he was greedy then 3p wouldn't ambush him.

No, this is a stupid thread that would be appropriate in Jokes OR Chatterbank.

Could this be anti-Tory?.............no, I am too suspicious and naive.

[Celtigra3]

Perhaps if the MPs stopped claiming such exorbitant sums on their expenses and stopped giving the Lords £300 a day just to turn up where they just sit and snooze all day and fine the bankers for the mess and get big corporation to pay their tax, the country wouldn't be in such a mess.