October 20th, 2009

+++ Rennard Admits Flipping Main Residence in 2007 +++
+++ Ruling : No Definition of ‘Main Address’ +++

Shhh, Don't Tell Anyone We're in StockwellIn a very odd ruling following a complaint made by the Sunlight Centre about Lord Rennard to the House of Lords Clerk of the Parliaments’ Office, the Clerk has decided that in “the absence of any definition of main address in the current guidance to the House of Lords’ Members Expenses Scheme, I have come to the conclusion that I should not uphold the complaint.”

Guido takes this to mean that no peer will be found to have broken the rules regarding main residence.  This ruling will certainly will be grabbed by Baroness Uddin as a get out of jail free clause.  Stunning.


221 Comments

  1. 1
    Grandma B says:

    Disgraceful!

    • 18
      Call a General Election NOW ! says:

      To quote >> http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/cgt/property/basics.htm

      “You don’t have to pay Capital Gains Tax when you sell or dispose of your own home, as long as you’re entitled to full Private Residence Relief.
      You must have used the property as your only or main residence throughout the time you’ve owned it. Certain other conditions must also be met.”

      Where is the confusion about “main address” ?

      • 27
        Reg511 says:

        Prosecute, all of them, if Dave is clean and has cajones he could secure his place in history

        if

        • 83
          Dave "Hug a voter" Cameron says:

          “If Dave is clean” If you consider a 350k interest free loan,curtesy of you and me clean,then he can secure his place in history. As for cajones,he has the balls to present himself as the “Answer”. Convinced? Or,do you get the feeling you’ve been had?

        • 185
          Walter says:

          I presume you refer to “Macho” Mucho Cojones Dave Hartnett of HMRC……

        • 192
          Four-eyed English Genius says:

          If Dave is clean

          At least he doesn’t pick his nose and eat it!

      • 112
        It's a trap! says:

        Here is a link to the Commons allowances. The members are really taking the piss if they suggest that Legg has applied retrospection. They are thives, pure and simple!!!

        http://www.telegraph.co.uk/telegraph/multimedia/archive/01403/The_Green_Book_1403174a.pdf

        Can someone find and post a link to the Lords version?

      • 208
        Pride's Purge says:

        There isn’t any confusion under this definition, because it explains the circumstances under which the rest of us must pay a tax ie most of the time. The confusion only seems to arise when it involves a legislator, which is why the whole lot need to be cleared out root and branch. Note well that under the HMRC definition, the only effect of “flipping” by the little people would be to lose Private Residence Relief on both/all the properties concerned. Unbelievable!

    • 21
      Grandpa Simpson says:

      And you wonder why Griffin is a viable alternative to some?

      • 44
        It's a trap! says:

        I am actually considering voting B,N,P just to piss off the troughers.

        Shock treatment for me, and a wasted silent vote. But it will certainly make me feel better.

        The ‘Establishment’ are rotten to the core.

        FFS, try and pass on money to your children that you have paid Income tax on, and NI.

        Have a look at the IHT rules on directgov.co.uk or similar.

        The little people are restricted to what we can gift to our children.

        Whereas these Parliamentarian fuckers can employ their family at our expense and get away with Allowance cheating without paying a penny back and getting the jollies tax free.

        MEP’s and MSP’s are just the same. Don’t get me going on the tin foil hat wearers in local councils.

        Ben Dover = Corrupt, Derek Conway = corrupt, Margaret Bekkett = corrupt

        the list is almost endless.

        We get taxed at 40% on IHT. have a look at the restrictions on gifting your own money to family. And if you exceed your lifetime allowance in your personal pension pot, the residual gets taxed at, wait for it —— 85%

        Fucking unbelieveable. Plus you have a legal obligation to maximise your returns in your own pension plan. Then Bastard Brown takes the tax credits away on Pension monies.

        Marxists and criminals one and all!!!

        B,N, P for me. Protest value only. Unless DC gets tough on the troughing fuckers.

        • 69
          rick says:

          Yes, I feel the same and for the same reasons. The party that can speak it’s name at last. Onwards and upwards!

          • See you next Tuesday says:

            And I, sadly. Being Jewish and voting bee n pee is not easy but I am so sick of the corruption in the HoC that I see no option.

          • Hold On,Old Nick says:

            Well. See you next saturday. Election day

          • DelBoy says:

            Get the motive right. It’s the bankers who have mainly caused the problem. The antics of our Honourable Members is a pecadillo in comparison.

          • Great Big Billy Goat Grump says:

            Two sides, same coin

            nankers = wankers
            Politicians = pigs
            Pigs = bankers

            real pigs don’t wank

          • THE ISLAND FORMALLY KNOWN AS BRITAIN says:

            Del Boy RE Bankers : The Bankers Did Not Steal Taxpayers Money Or Rob Our Pension Funds ! BROWN DID !

        • 144
          Phil O'Pastree says:

          Get real. The Toytown Nazis get two MEPs courtesy of Labour’s gross incompetence and suddenly they are a force? They will not win one single seat in Westminster in the forthcoming general election. Not one.

          Racist socialists – what a fucking combination!

          Griffin on Question Time will end up with egg on his face. He always does.

        • 153
          Tin Cunliffe-Arsely says:

          Ben Dover is a porn star.

          Densmore is the ex-MP and ex-MEP. I wonder if the EU got its £500 grand back.

        • 196
          Baron Shithead of Pontypool says:

          Fucking clever eh? We are the shitheads and they have won.

          Can you see any of these fraudsters needing to que up outside a job shop after the next election?

          What a fucking lot of tossers we are

        • 217
          Ruth Kelly's plaything says:

          I share your temptation. Certainly, it has to be a protest vote but PLEASE – NOT for Griffin’s thugs.

          He says a lot of the right things, beyond doubt. I agree with him a lot of the time. But I can’t forget where he came from (the NF were a nasty lot).

          BUT UKIP SAYS THE SAME THINGS, AND, IF IT SURVIVES ITS COURT CASE, WOULD EVEN GET US OUT OF THE EU – quite a bonus!

      • 119
        James Clarkson esquire says:

        Griffin is a national SOCIALIST. No option at all.

    • 22
      Anonymous says:

      Haha that is truly incredible!

      So if there is no fixed address defination how can a second home be defined so as to meet requirements for renumeration?

      If there is no defination can a Lord with zero property claim second home allowance?

      This is beyond stupid but not surprising.

      Self regulation NEVER works why do we allow it to continue?

      • 37
        12 years of Labour, still waiting for a new begining says:

        Revolution is the only alternative, can’t see it happening.

        Or

        Queenie, please stand up for your employers!

      • 219
        Ruth Kelly's plaything says:

        I have read the Clerk’s letter and it is rubbish.

        Accordingly I emailed (pownallmg@parliament.uk) demanding that he revise his position in the interest on not ending up knackering our constitution and looking like Gorbals Mick.

        A few hundred more like that and he might just reconsider.

        Over to you, fellow conspirators!

    • 29
      Baronness Houdini says:

      Nice escape, dontcha think ???

      • 105
        Duc de Blangis says:

        Some years ago I was appointed ‘The Living Constitution’ of a small private club. This served me, and my allies, well. It was clearly nothing new, however.

    • 45
      Cop out says:

      A copy of a dictionary appears to be another publication missing from the Commons / Lords library. In it would tell the dickheads what the definition is for “main”.

      Just a convenient excuse to let off another Lord. If it’s good enough to let in Mandelson, and Gorbals Mick, and maybe even Jacqui Smith, then why would they throw out one of their own?

    • 149
      bergen says:

      Perhaps the House of Lords should buy a dictionary and give it to its Clerk.He will find that English is a wonderful language and the words “main” and “address”have definitions to them.No doubt the fellow has a double first from Oxford.Shame I’m so thick.

  2. 2
    ricki lake says:

    Hi Mr Fawkes

    Can i ask you for a view on the piece i posted on here ?

    http://www.labourlist.org/should-we-allow-convicts-to-become-mps

    ricki

    • 11
      EC1 PhD says:

      In my opinion, it depends what you mean by “had problems with my family”. If you were shafting them, then go for a Scottish post. If they wanted nothing to do with you, then go for a Tory post. If they were sponging off you, then Labour. If you all held hands and sang Cum Bai Fuckin Yah Mi Lord then either Welsh Labour or Mandelson’s cabal. If, on the other hand, you were on the receiving end, then go with your conscience.

      • 41
        Screw them says:

        Life’s a bitch,it’s up to you to push yourself forward as no one else will,go for it,the only problem I see is which party one is on the up and the other 2 are on a down,the minor parties who knows,we all have skeletons in a cupboard somewhere,if conscience rears it’s head slap it down,that’s why MP’s are MP’s they have no conscience .

        • 54
          The UK is a police state says:

          No fucking party can break in on the act, LAB/CON/LIBS are a dictatorship it’s as plain as day in the rule books.

          What a coincidence Labour has such a high majority built in to the system, what a coincidence that the Cons are the only realistic chance of removing them

          NOTTTTTTTTTTT.

    • 137
    • 220
      Mike Litorus says:

      We’ve already 2 houses filled with the feckers, what difference will it make?

  3. 3
    Mrs. Dale says:

    Vote BNP.

    Hang the armchair generals.

    • 78
      rick says:

      Yes, Tony Blair gave the orders – the Generals carried them out. The rope for them all.

      • 95
        Sir Anthony Cecil Hogmanay Melchett says:

        The Generals were not kicking up a stink when they knew they were leading the PBI into shit creek,without paddles. Why did they not protest at the time?

        • 111

          Well, to be fair, one could also ask why One-eyed Nick is only now making his “principled” point?

          I mean as Fuhrer-in-waiting he must be a man of high moral principle. Surely he wouldn’t be moved to say such things just because a couple of retired Ruperts said something nasty about him and his chums.

  4. 4
    EC1 PhD says:

    Totally unacceptable. Rennard deserves to be served up as Duck Confit.

  5. 5
    Nick says:

    No main address, then there is no second home address. No second home address, why are they claiming expenses for them

    Nick

  6. 6
    Dack Blog says:

    Though hardly surprising.

  7. 7
    THE ISLAND FORMALLY KNOWN AS BRITAIN says:

    Kick One They All Limp !

  8. 8
    Call a General Election NOW ! says:

    Please refer the Clerk to the HMRC definition of main residence, for both rental and capital gains tax purposes, where more than two properties are owned – either solely or jointly.
    The law is clear and anyone else would suitably investigated !

  9. 9
    Ewanme says:

    LMFAO !!!

    ‘Stunnin’ ????

    Get a fuckin life , hun x .

    E x .

  10. 10
    Radio Balls Pond Road says:

    The legal equivalent of “Creative Accounting.”

    Now they are really taking the piss.

  11. 12
    SaltPeter says:

    Rennard obviously needs a definition for the meaning of “common sense”.
    Did he actually achieve anything positive or useful in his costly time?
    (Maybe I should define “positive”, “useful” and “costly”…)
    “Pointless twat” is, however, self-explanatory.

    • 203
      Hugh Janus says:

      It is just terrifying that these Hoons are involved in legislating! No surprises, therefore, that many of our laws are badly drafted or just plain ridiculous.

  12. 13
    Tachybaptus says:

    There is nothing that the politicals will not sink to. There is no lower limit of infamy. Nothing can restrain them. In the words of Hopkins,

    So be beginning, be beginning to despair.
    O there ’s none; no no no there ’s none:
    Be beginning to despair, to despair,
    Despair, despair, despair, despair.

  13. 15
    elusivelestoc says:

    Marie Antoinette played at being a shepherdess at her second home; our noble rulers seem to be saying the canaille may not have bread, but that’s not their problem.

  14. 16
    Anonymous says:

    Hang ‘em all.

  15. 17
    Dr_Duller_Duller_No_Paper_in-Carzy says:

    Sorry. Tend to agree with Ms. Dale

  16. 19
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  17. 20
    geekparent says:

    So let me get this right – Rennard claims expenses for his second home but because there is no definition of a “main home” there can therefore be no definition of a “second home” … oh its all so confusing….

    Dad’s Army had nothing on this farce.

  18. 23
    Anonymous says:

    Massive 17% Tory leads in THREE big polls tonight.

    Tories on the way to a landslide. Brown to be dumped by Mandelson before Xmas.

    http://www2.politicalbetting.com/

  19. 25
    Anonymous says:

    And I have come to the conclusion that the Standards comittee are a corrupted bunch of spineless yes men . Disgraceful.

  20. 26

    I told you last week, if I can get away with it, then we can get away with it.

    I have, and you can and Baroness Scotland can.

  21. 28
    TheCourtOfPublicOpinion says:

    This farce has become quite literally Alice in Wonderland, where the mad hatter said words mean exactly what he wants them to mean. A second home is very clear when you claim the expense, but goes all vague and uncertain when you get caught fiddling.

    • 33

      They are making it worse for themselves.

      • 47
        Anon says:

        Nothing to say.

      • 52
        Gordons favourite Butt Plug says:

        This is not going to go away!!!

        No how no way. Unless Cameron steps out of his Paradigm that exists in the ‘Village’, then there will be civil unrest. Well when the weather gets better!!

        They have just made this Country actually ungovernable in rule of law, and for tax collection.

        Utter muppets, all of them. The Parliamentary Services are using Double Speak at warp Factor 5. The only problem for them is the Internet, and Smart Phones.

        Orwell never forsaw that huge advantage to the proles

        Reagan is famous for saying it would be the chip that brought down communism.

        And so it will be the Information Age that will bring down the Institutions.

        Darlings promise of no bonus payments to Bankers is looking well pathetic now!!

        I am effin furious!!!!!!!!

        • 59
          Ivor Blackskateboard says:

          I think that after the anger subsides is when the human alpha male brain begins to excite. Much the same feeling you get when you believe someone is trying to break into your family home for the second time. Self preservation at all costs. Britain is the land of my castle a bit like President Klaus must be feeling in Czecholeslovakia probably. Enough is enough you are taking the piss you lot of traitorous war mongering pirates.

    • 56
      Hitch Hiker says:

      Yes I agree. It is Alice’s Adventures in ExpenseLand and Alice Through the Green Book.

  22. 32
    Martin Day says:

    Rennard is guilty of Sleaze!

    He and the Libdems should not get away with this – they alsoo have the issue of the £2.4 Million dodgy donation, which were the proceeds of crime!

    I hope after a change of government they are all tried and found guilty of the relevant malpractice. It will take a change of government to do this as Libdems are part of the Labour coalition.

  23. 34
    Spent Copper says:

    Years ago Anon (22), that would have made me happy, but quite frankly now my reaction is so what? Will the election of the modern touchy, feely, environmentally concerned ‘Consertvative’ party make any meaningful difference? I cant see David Cameron having the backbone to take the measures he needs to to get us out of the mess we are in. I don’t see him standing up to the EU, let alone getting us out of it and I don’t think he is able to sack all of the corrupt troughers in his own party. Sorry but I see no reason to get excited, although it will be good to see ‘New Labour’ crash and burn.

  24. 35
    Mrs Slocums Pussy says:

    Yet ANOTHER Fucking Government WHITEWASH!

    Sod the election – let’s just blow up parliament and the House of Lords with the troughing bastards still in situ.

  25. 40
    john says:

    Did anyone see that pompous twat Dennis McShane getting roasted by Paxo and a woman from a prostitute’s collective on Newsnight? He claimed some time ago in the House that there were 25,000 sex slaves in Britain, “trafficked” in from abroad by wicked, er traffickers.
    A huge police and media campaign followed, cameras showing brothels being stormed by police and social workers.
    Enormous time and expence. Result: next to no convictions on any charge.
    McShane blustered, but had to admit he got the 25,000 figure from the Daily Mirror. Collapse of stout twat.

    • 57
      Erich Honecker says:

      Yes the lady made McWankstain look exactly what he is: a blustering, lying imbecile. I thought Paxo was going to punch him.

      McShame, if you’re reading — fuck of back to your ‘garage’, you thieving nonce.

    • 165
      Anonymous says:

      Funny, the didn’t raid my brothel. Not a drop was split.

      Who is Dennis McShane anyway?

    • 189
      Tin Cunliffe-Arsely says:

      spit roasted?

  26. 42
    O N T Stoke of Sevenoaks says:

    Failing a definition in a statute a court will refer to the Oxford English Dictionary, and a legal dictionary. both of which would define “main”. Clearly the Clerk is grotesquely incompetent, or he is creating a political fudge which disgraces the Lords. Cannot the Noble Lords overrule or dismiss the Clerk?

  27. 49
    solopolis says:

    Oi! House of Lords Clerk of the Parliaments’ Office!

    Yes you!

    Michael Graham Pownall you are a spineless fucking prick.

  28. 51
    Hitch Hiker says:

    The 5th Nov is not far away. Remember remember all these gits and troughers are at it. They support one another. Let one fall and they will all fall like a demented pack of cards straight from Alice in Expenseland.

  29. 52
    Georges says:

    So, it appears that anything goes.

  30. 55
    Gordon's lost his marbles says:

    STOP !

    It is only ‘guidance’ to the Expenses Scheme, not the scheme itself.

    What does the actual scheme itself say?

  31. 58
    Anonymous says:

    Dear Barroness Uddin,

    Are you under criminal investigation for being a crook?

    Thank you for taking the time to write.

    The matter is currently under formal investigation and

    any outcome will be made public in due course.

    With kind regards

    Pola Manzila Uddin

    She still lives in that social housing flat in Wapping. Paying just £104 a week rent and depriving one of the 23,000 familes on the Tower Hamlets housing waiting list.

    You just couldnt make it up, could you?

  32. 60
    Lord Rennet says:

    Is he that 72 stone fat git from Ipswich?

  33. 61
    neu says:

    ‘no definition of main address in current guidance’!!!!

    Not to worry Guido just keep potting away –

    The House of Cards of this current corrupt political elite is visbly collapsing!!!

    • 80
      Ivor Blackskateboard says:

      they’re not collapsing though.

      • 160
        Anonymous says:

        Dem Ruskies must have been real pissed off in 1916 without the t’intenet, to have done all that. How pissed off do we have to get to do summink about them?

  34. 63
    12 years of Labour, still waiting for a new begining says:

    And apart from reducing the influx of the brethren down, what else?

    Someone whose political experience is based on arguing down the rubber dub in charge of the most predictable financial fuck up ever?

    Get real

  35. 66
    all out says:

    remember remember the 5th of november…

    come the 5th everyone should down tools and give going to “work” a miss. just don’t turn up and instead congregate outside the home of your oh so very fucking wonderful m of p , or their constiuency office or the houses of parliament. there’s 60million of us against 646 m of p and fuck knows how many lords but it ain’t many more than those shitmunchers in the commons.

    fuck the lot of them. they are without exception a bunch of greasy snake-oil spivs and it is time the great unwashed let them thieving duplicitous scumbags that if plod ain’t gonna hang ‘em high than we will.

  36. 67
    An Afghan says:

    And you want to bring British democracy here? I know we’re aggressive little fuckers,and like nothing more than a tear up friday night,after a skinful of fermented Yak’s milk,but give us a break fellas,our home grown Beckett,without a burka,would you fuck it,or vote for it?

    • 76
      The UK is a police state. says:

      Exacatly, look what we’ve given the Afghan people, fucking vote fraud of all the things.

      Woooooooopedy fucking dooooooooo I bet they are so thrilled and thankful to the west for that one.

      • 195
        Australian says:

        Can anyone confirm that Mohammed Kharzai was actually in Glenrothes at the time of the recent fraudulent by election – just to learn how to run a “proper” election, you understand?

  37. 70
    Jimmy says:

    Never mind. I’m sure Galley has better news from his meeting with the solicitors today.

    Doesn’t he?

  38. 73
    urban tory says:

    Lib Dem loon displays amazing skill of playing the invisable piano

    • 82
      Ivor Blackskateboard says:

      I don’t wish to cause any trouble and I’m not a tell tale but I heard he was taking the mickey out of the sas in that picture.

  39. 75

    ‘ave it, we’re going to fine (award costs against you) you if we lose in a motoring prosecution case. That’s right, even if we’re wrong, you pay the costs, fancy challenging us in court?

    http://www.pistonheads.com/news/default.asp?storyId=20842

    http://www.taxpayersalliance.com/research/2009/09/innocent-motorists-to-have-reclaimed-legal-costs-slashed.html

    Now come on, we have to pay for the billions we’re borrowing somehow.

    http://www.pistonheads.com/news/default.asp?storyId=20842

    • 179
      Justice Fingers says:

      Brilliant!

      Note to government: you would save even more money by not prosecuting innocent people in the first fucking place.

  40. 81
    stunned of cockfosters says:

    The House of Lords Clerk of the Parliaments’ Office is an alien from the planet Zagbah. It’s true because I say it is, so there.

    Guido, since when did you think this lot play by their own rules?

    • 87
      Hitch Hiker says:

      They are the law. We are their victims.

      We must be subjugated, controlled, monitored, recorded, searched, judged, taxed all in our “best interests”…so that they can continue to uphold the law.

      ad infinitum

  41. 90

    More than 30 years ago, when I was at Liverpool University, Chris Rennard was always being referred to as:

    “That fat Crook”

    His first stint as an agent for David Alton rather confirmed this description.

    It seems that little has changed.

  42. 91

    [...] ruling on definition of main residence for Lords, yet again they protect their own Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)The Baroness, [...]

  43. 96
    Anonymous says:

    Jeez G.

    I can’t believe this.

    I don’t believe the old bill would investigate udders if they didn’t think they had a case. This kind of blows it out of the water.

    What about teh guy from St Albans who was all repentant for having done wrong. I wonder if he’s still repentant?

    I wonder if Mandy will get his claims in PDQ.

    I’m speechless.

    This needs to get in the MSM asap.

    I know you have a wide readership Guido, but this needs to go in the dead tree press.

    • 97
      Michael Pownall says:

      But there is a pressing issue of pensions,gongs and lucrative seats on quangos resting on my actions.

    • 99
      Ewanme says:

      LMFAO !!!

      Wiv that fantastic brainwave – I’m gone x .

      Are you people on the same planet wot I’m on ???

      E x .

  44. 101
    A Redneck says:

    Those little piggies in Westminster? They look awful purtty to me. Shucks,i might even take one for a wife! Howdydoody! Can i get one with those big old titties! That Lordy Rennard looks like a whole bunch of girly fun. Does she have a cousin?,just making sure she’s not spoken for,you unnerstand.

  45. 102
    Obama Beach says:

    3 polls out tonight ALL and I mean ALL giving the Tories a 17% lead (100 seat + maj)

    Not a peep on Aljabeeba Funnily enough and I can no longer find the poll tracker as easily as was before either. In fact can’t find it anywhere.

    BASTARDS!!! Fucking bastards

    • 117
      next slide please, d-day says:

      There never is.. Labours media arm always jump on a bad Tory news story but never on a Labour one. Changes are required at the next election. I wonder if the corridors of broadcasting house will be ‘awash with empty champagne botttles’ if the Tories win?

      • 120
        Raving Loon says:

        The Tories will never get rid of the licence fee…NEVER. So don’t hold your breath.

  46. 103
    random moonbat says:

    Flatten westminster with mortars and bayonet any fucker that makes it out, if democracy has failed then bollocks to playing by the rules.

    Liers, thieves and murderers, the only justice will be revoloutionary justice.

  47. 104
    Anonymous says:

    The police and HMRC…our last hope.

    About as much chance as Vaclav Klaus?

  48. 107
    Doc Trough says:

    Well, the lily-handed, scraping arseworm has come to the WRONG conclusion then, hasn’t he? Looks like complicity from here.

  49. 108
    mogadon says:

    with no definition of “main residence” it leaves many tax laws and local authority rules for council tax also open to interpretation

  50. 109
    blue flute says:

    Gordon Brown’s self image is based on the plastic boy with a caliper money box that used to stand outside chemist shops

    • 134
      THE ISLAND FORMALLY KNOWN AS BRITAIN says:

      My Brother Still Has One Of Said Boys They Used To Take It On Tour With The rugby Team !

  51. 113
    Willsteed says:

    Looks like some fat pissed bloke having a barbecue in his garden.

    Shouldn’t we do away with titles? I’m all for a hereditary Lords, hell it worked for a thousand years, but if it now ends up with ‘Tonies cronies’ and fat BBQing bastards…. why should they be able to style themselves ‘Lord’?

    • 132
      THE ISLAND FORMALLY KNOWN AS BRITAIN says:

      Would Look Better If It Was A Fat Pissed Bloke Being Barbecued In His Garden !

  52. 114
    Ex_Postman_Pat says:

    Have you read the Daily Mail lead story?

    Relief postmen without credentials on 5.80 an hour coming soon to a place near you –

    Time to fill those moats you Lords! Prepare those oil cauldrons!

    • 131
      THE ISLAND FORMALLY KNOWN AS BRITAIN says:

      That Means That Half The post Will Never arrive And will Be Found Open /empty In The Bushes !

      • 157
        Tin Cunliffe-Arsely says:

        Is that news?

        My dad worked as a relief postman and that was because the real postman had been called up to go to Suez.

      • 197
        Australian says:

        As opposed to the 75% of the post that currently ends up in that condition?

  53. 115
    neu says:

    Surely the term ‘Main Residence’ is a definitiion in itself?!!

  54. 116
    I earned it says:

    Give anyone whose had their snouts in the trough a choice – pay up or be sued by the state. Dissolve this government NOW, and give us all a choice before they totally bankrupt the country. Clear out the whole lot and let the people have their say. Prosecute Anthony Blair for every penny he’s taken from us, and set up a penal camp on one of the remoter islands off the Scotish coast where we can dump all these rascals. We can add Gordy and Blinky, and anyone else whose been flipping their addresses, and robbing us blind.
    Once that’s done, we can then get rid of all the ‘advisors’, all IT schemes and databases, ISAs, and withdraw from the EU. That should be enough to be going on with.

  55. 118
    Get Smart says:

    Get real here this will only stop till they are hanging from lamp posts.
    That stooped it in France and Russia when they had their revolutions.

    • 135
      Anonymous says:

      They certainly knew how to deal with their royal families.

    • 159
      JMT says:

      We really are too nice, well-behaved and conditioned for that, and it could lead to further problems.

      If tanks on the lawn and piano wire necklaces from lampposts replace elections, then the new politicos are going to be even more repressive than the last – just to ensure personal survival. (Under the Lisbon Diktat slagging off EU institutions is an offence FFS)

      However after considering the behaviour of current shower, it is an acceptable risk.

      Tanks on the lawn and mid-air tapdancing from lamposts for the troughers and traitors!

  56. 121
    case law says:

    Main Residence Questions

    In the case of City of Bradford Metropolitan Council v Neil Anderton (1991), the Courts ruled that a merchant seaman, away at sea most of the year, was resident at his home in Bradford, even though he spent only a small amount of his time at that address.

    In the case of Ward v Kingston upon Hull City Council (1993), it was decided that a man working most of the year in Saudi Arabia still had his main residence in Hull where he had a greater security of tenure.

    What this means to us is that we will look closely at the nature of your residence at each of the properties. If you are away from the country on business a lot of the time, but retain a home in Fareham, we are likely to regard your Fareham home as your main residence.

    In the case of Codner v Wiltshire VCCT (1994), a man spent 70% of his time in Ealing (London), and only went back to Wiltshire at the weekends.

    It was decided that the home in Wiltshire was his main residence.

    Similarly in the case of Cox v London (SW) VCCT and Poole Borough Council Community Charge Registration Officer (1994), a man who spent “at least five days and five nights every week” in a flat in Kensington, and only went back to the family home in Poole at weekends, was regarded as having his main residence in Poole.

    • 183
      Justice Fingers says:

      Quite right.

      It is the court’s determination of ‘main residence’ that will be important – not some jobsworth clerk.

  57. 122
    50 Calibre says:

    Come the revolution…

  58. 123
    I earned it says:

    OK, it is early morning, get smart. So I’m with you. I’ve got my pitchfork at the ready, just give me a time and date, and I’ll be there.

  59. 125
    Scallywag says:

    I know what ‘Main Residence’ means and I am not particularly gifted in my understanding and use of the English language,

    So precisely what part of ‘Main Residence’ can be reasonable interpreted as ‘my boyfriend’s house in Southampton’, my sister’s spare room, my parent’s house 8 miles from Westminster, etc., etc…?

  60. 126
    sufragellete says:

    “I am determined to end reckless banking” – Gordon Brown http://www.number10.gov.uk

    Why does Brown note state “we are ending reckless banking” – Brown always states intention to do things – I think he has no power with the Banks and he knows it

    Brown = Chump

    • 140
      English Liberation Front says:

      Yep, what happened to all the “initiatives” he announced in June? Sunk without trace – like he will be next June.

      A vote for any party but Tory is a vote for New Labour. Protest against them all by all means, but just remember you will get another 5 years of Brown if you do.

  61. 128
    Former Labour eejit says:

    Unbelievable but perhaps not. Let’s hope the police don’t fall for that one particularly as some lied to try & cover their tracks

    Such a decision really does make me despair where in our corrupt system can we now find justice ……………. the whole bloody lot including the so called regulators are beyond redemption

    It seems the only way we are going to get rid of these parasites is via another Cromwell & a bloody civil war.

  62. 129

    I reckon the last hope for settling this within the rules is via the tax fellers. Like Al Capone, the legal process seems helplessly corrupt. Are HMRC professional and dedicated enough to nail these motherfuckers?

    Flipping to avoid CGT is *clearly* actionable. Let’s see it.

    The alternative is pitchforks and piano wire – for all of them.

    Who the fuck do they think they are? Do they think we are cattle?

  63. 130
    Lizzie says:

    I think we are all delusional if we think the crooks in the House of Lords or going to be sanctioned in any way for anything. I think we should remember that they are either lawyers themselves or they know good lawyers, and have the savviest accountants on the planet. So….give it up, the Lords will go on crooking.

    • 155
      nell says:

      Cameron, when he comes into office, needs to turn the HoL into an elected Senate, that’ll get rid of the dross.

      • 161
        Mondeoman says:

        Agreed, spot on, time to be radical, clear out the mess both sides of the PofW when the opportunity comes. There is so much crap going off at the minute it is hard to see the whole pack of cards not coming down before Christmas.

  64. 133
    C.h.o.c.o.l.o.t.i.s. says:

    sweet talk to the wind

  65. 139
    Down with Brown! says:

    Bloggers on Labour Home openly admitting it will be slaughter in May and calling for Brown to be booted out. Good stuff :)

    http://www.labourhome.org/?p=7974

  66. 141
    A Pensioner says:

    Fucked or Buggered? Thats the only question left for normal law-abiding, tax-paying people in the UK. How do you prefer it?

    • 190
      Engineer says:

      I don’t recall being asked. Perhaps what we’ve experienced might more accurately be described as “violently raped”.

  67. 142
    McGroom says:

    Have a look at http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200809/ldpeers/ldpeers.pdf.

    Under section 11 of the House of Lord’s MEMBERS’ REIMBURSEMENT SCHEME, GENERAL GUIDE. EIGHTH EDITION April 2009 the PARLIAMENTARY DELEGATIONS rules for Accommodation Maintenance Allowance for Second Home make a clear distinction for “Members who maintain a second residence in London for the purpose of attending sittings of the House”.

    The Members’ Expenses Section in the Finance Department of the House of Lords, clearly has records of who maintains a second residence in London and where members have their “Main Address”.

    Lord Renard is trying to fox us.

    Pay up trougher

    • 151
      Anonymous says:

      Did you see what he did there? Top hole.

    • 194
      Justice Fingers says:

      4.2.2 Members seeking to recover travel costs must record their main place of residence with the Members’ Expenses Section. Members with more than one main place of residence may register an alternative main residence (subject
      to the approval of the Clerk of the Parliaments) with the Members’ Expenses Section for the purpose of claiming travelling expenses.

      This seems quite clear. A members ‘main residence’ is that address which s/he has registered with the Expenses Section. No other definition is required.

  68. 147
    THE ISLAND FORMALLY KNOWN AS BRITAIN says:

    These c*nts Think The Public Have The Memory Of Goldfish And That We will All Have Forgotten This In A Couple Of Days
    Which I’m Afraid Was The Case In The Past !
    BUT NOT NOW !

  69. 148
    763 says:

    Read “The rise and fall of the roman empire”. What we are seeing is a rerun
    of that. Political corruption, ignoring the will of the people and look where it
    all ended. George orwell warned us about this and we heed the warning.

  70. 152
    nell says:

    In respect of BaronessU – her Maidstone flat contained no furniture and had never been lived in – legally therefore it cannot be counted as a residence of any sort, least of all a main one.

    The police must have reason to think they can make a case against her as they are still investigating her.

  71. 154
    Shocked of Sheen says:

    Has someone spiked the water supply with LSD? It feels like we’re living in a hallucination, think I’ll dig out a Grateful Dead LP and turn on to BBC news…

    • 166
      Doc Trough says:

      “Ship of fools
      on a cruel sea
      Ship of fools
      sail away from me”

      • 184
        Shocked of Sheen says:

        Yes!!

        Went to see the captain, strangest I could find,
        laid my proposition down, laid it on the line –
        I won’t slave for beggar’s pay, likewise gold and jewels,
        but I would slave to learn the way to sink your ship of fools.

    • 167
      streamfisher says:

      Tune into BBC Breakfast, if that doesn’t make you cut your wrists nothing will.

      • 206
        UK DebtSlave says:

        Tuning into the BBC makes me vomit at the best of times

        Tuning in now, I might very well cut my wrists.

  72. 156
    streamfisher says:

    So where does he have his mail delivered to and what address is his driving licence registered at with the DVLA?, fuck it, if they are going to play that game, sauce for the Goose and the Gander, Name change to A. N. Other.

  73. 168
    nell says:

    http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article6879603.ece

    The Times is also pursuing troughing lords and taking issue with the ‘main residence’ definition.

    It points out that a YouGov poll last weekend on whether the HoL should be investigated showed 84% thought it should – the Times is pressing for an independent auditor like Legg to be appointed to do just that.

    By the by – since gorbals mick has his main residence in scotland anyone know where he’s living whilst in London? – no doubt it will be some five star hotel paid for by us.

  74. 173

    I can’t see what all the fuss is about?

    • 178
      streamfisher says:

      Bernard got 150 years in prison for his Ponzi, meanwhile across the pond we reward our crooks thieves and fraudsters with a fat pension and a title, Lord and Lady Troughtown.

  75. 174
    nell says:

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1221859/Gordon-Brown-MPs-pay-rise-battle-stop-rebellion-expenses.html

    Slightly O/T sorry but has anyone else seen this? gordon is planning to give MP’s a pay rise !!!!! to cheer them up after the shock of Legg’s findings and before Sir Christopher Kelly reports on how they are going to have to clean up their act.

    I bet it’s more than the rest of the public sector ie nurses, doctors etc have been awarded this last year.

    Talk about buying off criminals or rewarding crime.!!!!

    • 179
      McGroom says:

      Thanks Nell

      This is amazing. At least the bankers have an audit trail to justify their pay (albeit the current trading profits come from using cheap government money).

      What exactly have our MP’s done to justify a pay rise.

      Gordon Brown is truely more than a few sheep short in the top paddock.

      Has he not considered what the Postal workers will make of this.

      • 191
        Lizzie says:

        Mandelson wants to privatise Royal Mail, so guess what is going to happen, Royal Mail is going to be privatised. What Mandy wants Mandy gets, just wait until he decides Brown must go.

        • 199
          Australian says:

          The irony is of course that the only man keeping McDoom in the Drowning Straße Führerbunker at present is Vaclav Klaus.

          It is abundantly clear that Mandlescum’s puppet masters have told him that he has to continue to prop up McDoom a little longer whilst they sort out their “little Czech problem” to ensure that the “Große Euro Reich” project is not derailed.

          The moment Klaus is forced into signing away his country (as per his predecessor, Beneš, in 1938), McDoom will be dropped like the proverbial hot potato.

          • Anonymous says:

            Frankly, I fail to see what that is amazing. Has it not sunk in yet that your indignaiton is meaningless? You have no power, you continue to pretend that you have a say in things, you live in a country about as open to the public gaze as the Soviet Union, where laws can be broken at will by some and not by others, where the poor are consistently punished for no reason while the rich brazenly feather their own nests.

            And you are surprises that MP’s are about to have a pay rise? The Queen is about to have a nineteen million pounds a year rise, and not a whimper is heard. The naievete and foolishness of the average British serf knows no limits.

            Coming next: repeal of certain FOI laws (which one’s will be decided by a private gathering of Commons troughers). The public may not know which ones are now private and asking such questions will be considered a crime.

            Oh yes, and your taxes are about to go up again, I’m afraid. Watch out for charges on/around “communication issues” in the next eight months.

  76. 175
    Sir William Waad says:

    The Courts say that, in the absence of a specific definition, words should be given their ordinary meanings. So it’s his main residence if it’s his main residence. Otherwise it isn’t.

    • 182
      streamfisher says:

      Thanks for clearing that up Sir William, sounds very sensible and logical and therefore doomed to failure as a precept.

  77. 177
    Anonymous says:

    Check out the sense of entitlement from Lord [Paul] Tyler..

    http://lordsoftheblog.net/2009/10/20/will-the-lords-be-leggless/

    • 207
      Anonymous says:

      Reading Tyler merely underscores the fact that there is no way through to most of these people.

  78. 193
    Anonymous says:

    Dear Baroness Uddin,

    Are you a crook?

    Thank you for taking the time to write.

    The matter is currently under formal investigation and

    any outcome will be made public in due course.

    With kind regards

    Pola Manzila Uddin.

    She is still living in a social housing flat in Wapping, paying just £104 a week rent and depriving one of the 23,000 familes on Tower Hamlets social housing waiting list.

  79. 201
    Chris says:

    Unbelieveably sad. Do the politicians think this will re-establish trust with the uk public?

  80. 202
    an MP says:

    We don’t fucking care what you think you ghastly pleb. Now fuck off there’s a good little fellow.

  81. 204
    That's Democracy says:

    Get a grip on reality. Forget your petty parochialism, you idiotic Labour/Tory/Liberal disputes. They are meaningless in comparison with the chronic, endemic corruption evident. Britian is not a democracy. The only way to change all this is the kind of constitutional change that neither Brown, nor Cameron has the balls for. After all, to do so would mean that both of those twats would be out on their ears in double quick time.

    Begin a the top with the most pressing problem and work your way down through the filth. No democracy has an unelected head of state. The Saxe-Coburg must go and go now.

    Still think you are living in a democracy?

  82. 205
    UK DebtSlave says:

    I despair

    What an utter disgrace.

    This country has descended into decadence. The law only applies to us plebs it seems.

  83. 210
    Great Granddad says:

    Sod the House of Lords rules. The taxman’s rules will do us very nicely, thankyou.

  84. 211

    [...] Lord Rennard has been cleared of any wrong doing on a technicality… [...]

  85. 212
    Trying to be helpful says:

    Someone with more than one UK residential property needs to nominate their main residence for CGT purposes. It is technically possible to have two main residences for up to 21 months but this is where one has moved home and not yet sold the first home.
    The House of Lords Clerk might want to confer with HMRC re the definition. In most cases it isn’t an issue because tax payers have only one UK residential property.

    • 218
      Ruth Kelly's plaything says:

      Absolutely – that’s the way to play it.

      The Clerk should be hauled over the coals by the Lords authorities and told to sort this out PDQ before bringing the Lords into even greater disrepute.

      This utterly disgraceful situation cannot be allowed to stand.

  86. 213
    bandersnatch says:

    PMQ’s Real Time

    Everyone on the front benches ready for the off, leaning forward and wearing poppies.

    Crispin Blunt… Territorials in his area still can’t train till next April! What effect will this have on recruitment? Gordy says anyone going to Afghanistan WILL get training.

    Scottish voice congratulating those medical staff already vaccinating people against swine flu in Fife (!) Opportunity for the Gorgon to say how ‘we are ahead of the world in making sure vaccine and antivirals are available to all who need them’.

    Dave… The planned postal strikes are bad for everyone including Royal Mail. Gordy says the same, but urges negotiations… going to ACAS. Won’t join with Dave in a combined letter asking them to give up the strike. Dave quotes Peter Mandelson on the strike… Privatise! Gordy says: ‘There is no commercial buyer!’ PM says: ‘This strike is all about modernisation and the implementation of it… Lots of noise from house… from both sides.

    Dave says it is all nonsense. The reason that the PM can’t sell the Royal Mail is that he can’t convince his own backbenchers. THAT’S why he can’t sell the Royal Mail. Angry voice and angry stance. Ridiculing: ‘Why not? He’s even selling the Dartford Crossing!’

    Prime Minister gesticulating… saying: ‘We want negotiation and arbitration… Already 40,000 jobs have gone. We mustn’t bring this strike into the political arena’… Horse laughs all round. Labour jeers and laughs directed at Cameron. Cameron, also fiercely, quotes Pat McFaddyn… about the PM being weak on the strike… ‘The unions have scented blood’.

    Cameron says the PM needs to be courageous and show leadership… ‘The PM just sits in his bunker and can’t even decide what kind of biscuits he likes.’

    PM goes into tractor stats mode: ‘The opposition have been wrong on’… lists about 500 irrelevant items…’

    Lindsay Cooper… On the failure to develop the Ormskirk bypass, and on the lack of regeneration in Skelmersdale. PM says he has visited W Lancashire… PM wanting to help: ‘We must maintain growth in the economy in order to afford it.’

    Nick Clegg says he asked PM to break up the big banks last August. Mervyn King, Governor of the Bank of England asked for this yesterday… Separation of retail and investment functions is essential. PM replies that retail and investment banks being joined is not the point. ‘True regulation’ is the problem. Clegg says banks are currently a cartel; taxpayers are bailing them out with blank cheques… Clegg asks for a windfall profit tax.

    Clegg is wrong says PM! (Surpise all round) PM shouts: ‘We shall make money out of all this! We are already restructuring the banking system.’

    Paul Flynn: ‘Why should our brave soldiers put their lives at risk in order to
    re-elect the corrupt Karzai?’ Lots of murmuring from the MPs. PM says that we will continue to help the ‘infant Afghan democracy.’ We shall support the new election so that, eventually, the troups will be able to come home.

    Additional help for the hospice movement asked for by back bencher. PM says he is ‘trying to give more money’, and ‘trying to see what we can do in the future.’

    Lynne Jones… Why can’t govt depts contact to reduce greenhouse reduce gas emissions by 10% by 2010… PM, given this smarvellous opportunity… switches from the particular to the general, as usual, talking at length about the future Copenhagen conference on global warming.

    Mr Brady… Altringham in Cheshire… ‘Why should my constituents’ taxes be raised so that the PMs constituents can have their taxes lowered?’… PM stalls and blathers over his answer…

    Jackie Smith (What no catcalls?… Well, hardly any…) Comments on the work of Surestart centres… Plans of the party opposite may curtail Surestart… PM then waxes lyrical on 3,000 Surestart centres, soon to be 3 and half thousand… throughout the country, some in every constituency. PM says ‘We shall keep them the Tories will cut them’… (Actually I’m interested in this topic and know that the PM he is not quite right. I have heard Cameron say the Tories will ‘build on them’.) Hmmm.

    Question on pensions from back bencher… ‘It may still be six years before the earnings link will be restored’… PM, bad temperedly: ‘We have done MORE than this… winter fuel payment etc etc etc’

    back bencher: on pleural plaques victims… (This I believe is the serious precursor of fatal mesothelioma, a lung affliction, which does not as yet qualify for industrial injury payments… until it advances to the terminal cancerous condition itself.) PM will meet the MP in person to discuss.

    Back bencher… In 2005 Blair surrendered the EU tax concession/settlement… PM jumps in at once, cutting him off, chucking out the statistics left right and centre: 3 million jobs depend on trade with the EU, 3/4 million companies trade with EU… 60% of all our trade is with the EU etc etc etc

    Jim Dobbyn… Diabetes UK report… Dealing with pre diabetes conditions and thereby preventing a lot of type 2 diabetes… PM says: ‘We are offering check ups… refs obesity, exercise, ‘change for life’ programmes and healthy diet…

    Peter Robinson… Funding for justice in N. Ireleand… ‘What will happen if there are ‘emergencies’ in N Ireland?’… They don’t want to raid money for health and education for this purpose. PM says that we are in the final stage of devolution… We have made provision for a reserve for exceptional security needs. We have given extra money this yea,r and shall do so if necessary in the future.

    Ronnie Campbell… ‘The banks have made the economic mess. Why do the poor and the pensioners have to pay for it?’… PM cross again… ‘That is why we took action. No savers have lost money… We are making reforms. We must do them globally or business will move from one country to another’…

    Mr Grey… Copenhagen talks… ‘What will you put forward to show we can make compromises to alleviate climate change?… What about the third runway at Heath Row?’… Rah rah rah from the troops… Blather from the PM.

    Mr Banks. People approaching retirement, especially women aproaching retirement, need to know what to expect when… Not very illuminating answer…

    DPP and assisted suicide. The public prosecutor should not decide such things… Put the debate before the house… PM agrees that the house makes the law and Keir Starmer is only writing a few guidelines on how it might be interpreted.

    Anderson… N Ireland .. ‘What shall we do next to implement justice devolution?’… PM says that next comes consultation with the community. Cross community voting on the devolution of policing and justice…

    Gary Streeter. Teachers pay is set nationally. Currently children in Devon schools receive less money than city children… Why is this?… Why should children in poor rural areas be discriminated against? PM does not reply merely saying: saying: ‘The Tories are going to cut… cut… cut…’

    Katie Clark… About employment rights for temporary and part time workers. PM very short reply which I did not catch.

    Back bencher from Cumbria. Cancer units should not be more than 40mins away from any patient. Kendal has no such unit. All his constituents are more than 40 mins away. PM speaks generally yet again… on what he has done, and will do for cancer patients

    It was quite a lively house. Clegg came over very well on the banks and scored a few definite hits. There were several ‘planted’ questions from Labour back benchers allowing the PM to warble on and waste time speaking very generally about his current and future policies.

    Cameron seemed rather cantankerous, but kept pegging away at the postal strike issue, scoring several hits: showing the PM up as a coward for abandoning plans to privatise the Royal Mail… (PM ‘But there were no buyers!’) He made the PM look incompetent and vascillating again… suggesting that he often doesn’t give a straight answer. (True) He looks weak and shifty. ‘He can’t even make his mind up about which biscuit he likes!’ says Diamond Dave.

  87. 214
    coshbrew says:

    When asked to interpret statutes the Appeal Court is on record in numerous instances in saying that if no definition of something mentioned in the Statute is given then the normal dictionary definition should be relied upon. Look up “main” then “residence” and there you have it.

  88. 215
    Anonymous says:

    Have just read the letter from the House of Lords Clerk. It is absolute twaddle and as I read it does not make one definitive statement, except in summation to say “fuck you”. Write back and ask him what half the shit means, using questions that he can only answer yes and no because this is no answer.

  89. 221
    Anonymous says:

    Yet another good reason for a general strike and demo outside Parliament.







Alastair Campbell Malcolm Tucker writes

“… remember your key attributes: not JFK skipping through the flowers spraying Clinton juice all over everyone. No – the glowering maniac in the boarded-up house who, if we’re lucky, people might just about believe is the only one who can remember where the bank statements are kept. That’s the core strategy.”



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As of 26 Feb 2010
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