Gary Gibbon
Sir Christopher Kelly, Chairman of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, talked to the Public Administration Committee this morning. He refused several invitations to take a pot shot at Sir Thomas Legg. He said to the committee: “I think all of you are guilty of having gone along with a system which you must…
Gary Gibbon
Gary Gibbon blogs on the clash of views on MPs expenses between Sir Thomas Legg and Sir Paul Kennedy, and why not all the money will be paid back to the Commons.
Gary Gibbon
Eighty MPs have registered that they wish to appeal against Legg’s bill for challenged expenses. I hear that about half of them may relate to mortgage claims. Legg has asked for documentation to prove mortgages claimed for and said that while photocopies might have been acceptable to the Fees Office they were not acceptable to…
Gary Gibbon
There will be legislation to enact part of the Kelly Report on re-thinking MPs’ expenses, it was announced today.
Gary Gibbon
The letter sent to MPs saying they must repay money following the Legg review.
Gary Gibbon
The Speaker has written to MPs saying how the Commons will deal with the refuseniks who won’t pay up Sir Thomas Legg’s expenses demands.
Jon Snow
Why is there to be no ‘Legg style’ investigation into the expenses of members of the House of Lords? I have blogged before on the expenses culture in the House of Lords.
Gary Gibbon
Ann Widdecombe was having a bit of a go at the Speaker, John Bercow, yesterday for rolling over and not standing up for MPs’ rights against Sir ThomasLegg. I’m told that Speaker Bercow twice tried to persuade Sir Thomas to drop the retrospective elements, constructing caps for spending on gardening and cleaning second homes when…
Gary Gibbon
20 or so MPs have yet to pick up their envelope from Sir Thomas Legg, but there is rampant confusion among those who have.
Jon Snow
I have two close friends who happen to be life peers. Upon entering the House of Lords they were button holed by those already there. One had a house in the Hampshire countryside; the other had a place in Scotland. They joined the House in the last twelve years. In both cases their “button holers”…