The Weight of the Law
Laws is to make an apology to the House at 1pm. He just reacted to a savaging from John Lyon by saying “my motivation, as the Commissioner has accepted, was to protect my privacy not to benefit financially”. Not good enough.
Lyon hits the nail on the head – Laws is “guilty of a series of serious breaches of the rules over a considerable time”. He can’t come back to Cabinet anytime soon, which must be frustrating for Clegg given the potential opening shortly. So what next for Laws?
Rumour has it, his house in his Yeovil constituency is up for sale…
He ould be up before a judge for ” Obtaining money through deception”
Never mind David. Brussels is calling and there’s no need to fiddle expenses, it is just one big gravy train . And after lining your nest over there you can settle down on a seat in the house of Lords.
It’s lovely, we think we made a mistake with this Westminster nonsense.
Clear criminal offence of false accounting, no need to prove intent. The man should be in jail. Why did the Met not prosecute?? Policy decision influenced by politicians? I thought they were meant to be independent?
Parliament does not care MPs attend or not. Politicians closing loop holes on tax evasion for the public while MPs (Blair, Miliband, Brown) create limited companies to get around paying income tax. Disgrace, cut this loop hole.
Gordon Brown is in LA and has not attended House of Corruption for months, so where is the penalty for being suspended for a week? They all lobby for interest groups who pay them, expenses were repaid to fiddlers, where is the change Cameron McClegg?
Right to recall so the public can met out proper justice to these thieves, crooks and dishonourable people.
How Ashdown can defend Laws is beyond belief. Wipe Lie Dems off the map ASAP. Laws should resign is he had any self respect.
This is how it is. Wake up and accept it. There are some in this country who are above the law and totally unaccountable; I am one of them, as is David Laws etc etc.
Ooooo Guido you are a bastard, but a loveable bastard. Perhaps a case of one Law for one and another Law for others.
He will get off with a warning…why?…because he is a gay..and people are more afraid of being accused of being homophobic than treating him like a criminal. If he was straight then he would probably already be in jail. ‘Suck a cock and escape the dock’ !! The filthy dog.
As in the case of Jacqui Smith eh !!
I will be happy to do it foe £40,000! Even for much less. Who says crime doesn’t pay.
“my motivation, as the Commissioner has accepted, was to protect my privacy not to benefit financially”.
Fine – pay it all back then.
he already has!
How much? And was it the full total of what he misappropriated?
Another point – if there were several, serious breaches of the rules, how come his expenses were signed off by the Fees Office? Were they hoodwinked, or was it a case of looking the other way?
No — he hasn’t — probably half, if that!
The number of UK homes repossessed by mortgage lenders rocketed by 15% to 9,100 in the first quarter of 2011, according to latest figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML).
The figure is well up on the 7,900 homes repossessed in the final quarter of 2010, but is 10% lower than the same period last year and equal to the average quarterly number of repossessions throughout 2010.
The documentary, first aired in March, investigates G4S, Capita and Serco – firms the Dispatches team claims are making pots of money from the Coalition cuts. It shows Mr Clegg sat on the front bench while Chancellor George Osborne talks about the cuts, telling the Commons: “We are all in this together.”
Reporter Ben Laurance says: “As the Government squeezes the public finances a handful of huge companies are prospering, not despite the cuts but because of them.” The film also criticises David Cameron’s claim that the Government would be more open about its financial dealings.
Mr Laurance is seen ringing a Government department to ask for documents which detail contracts with private sector companies, only to be told by an unknown official: “They are commercially sensitive.”
Laws is party of the government, what happened only reflect on the government.
Dead on the button, Billy Bowden is the greatest umpire ever !
He broke the rules, but he claimed less money than he could have done legitimately by following the rules.
It’s not right to accuse him of swindling money from the taxpayer – financially we’re better off as a result of his desire for privacy.
Save your outrage for the real swindlers.
You got it dead right jp.
So what next for Laws? Rumour has it, his house in his Yeovil constituency is up for sale…
A peerage of course , Thast where most failed politicons go, Or Brussels.
His house is up for sale ?? I’ll add it to my massive portfolio.
It isn’t a rumour. I read it in the DT on Tuesday. He’s downsizing, apparently.
Doesn’t need to rent a room anymore from his “friend”? (at our expense).
I always keep my expensive down by sharing a bed with a friend.
Can some one guess what job Billy has “in the private sector”?
Proofreader at the Gariduan.
Shouldn’t that be — ‘poof reader’?
What a wanker. He should be up before a judge.
His yeovil general election literature boasted about how he was “squeaky clean” on expenses, when he knew he wasn’t. That might well be jail-worthy. certainly worthy of investigation.
That is probably the biggest crime.
Those leaflets really did make a massive deal over his very low expenses.
he was probably talking about his arse – his boyfriend is very particular
Did he claim for anal lube?
I’m not sure how accepting large amounts of money was the only way to protect his privacy. Couldn’t he have written a note to the fees office: ‘Owing to a recent change in my circumstances, I will no longer be claiming for accommodation’. No need to explain why, no need to parade down Old Compton street in leather chaps singing songs from the shows, and no need to endanger his privacy. Suggesting that the only options were come out or claim is rather disingenuous.
The Irish Blackmail defence…
“What could I do your honour? He put money in my hand!”
Laws is another lefty prick
Laws is another righty prick, don’t you mean? He always said the ONLY reason he didn’t join the Tories was because they weren’t gay-friendly at the time he was looking for ways to feather his nest… I mean go into public service.
So if he had been open about his partner he could have got a mortgage and claimed more. Instead he claimed wrongly, but a bit less, by making it look as if his partner was his land lord. A very strange way to “save the taxpayer money”. If privacy was so important why did he claim at all? What a creep and what a cover-up.
If he wanted to protect his privacy, why didn’t he just pay his lover boy out of his own pocket and not involve third parties. He is a millionaire afterall.
If he were a decent person, that’s what he’d do.
But, as a politician, he’s venal scum.
Personally, I think he should have been open about his homosexuality, and kept quiet about being a Liberal.
Rumour has it, his house in his Yeovil constituency is up for sale…
What a silly statement. The house is either up for sale or it isn’t. Perhaps someone in the constituency can confirm this with fact..
Apparently it went up in Sep 2010. The house, not his nob.
Laws is in the wrong and it’s right he apologises but surely there’s an injustice that the likes of Brown and Balls whose litany of crimes are astronomical aren’t forced to apologise too?
What value may be found in a forced apology? Flog the Hoons.
He is also told to say 4 Hail Marys and 10 Our Fathers and all will be forgiven.
If is wasn’t for Brown using his kids as human shields when he left Downing Street it could have been a Ceausescu moment that this country could have been proud of.
They were conceived from anonyspunk at the jizzbank.
Where is Brown?
did he really think a manlove relationship gave the state an obligation to pay his living expenses?
I’m a gayer, this bloke brings gayers in to disrepute and the House in to even more ill repute than it already is.
He should be prosecuted.
As a non-gayer can i just say i dont care what two consenting adults get up to in thier own house, He stole/obtained money through deception and therefore should face charges, saying sorry aint good enough!
And as a non-gayer can i ask, does it hurt?
Depends on the size of both the plug and the socket.
Some ex labour MP’s should be able to testify if it hurts after their time inside.
No, he was a dishonest person, nothing to do with being gay. But even more unpleasant to use his sexuality as an excuse for fraud.
Where did I say him being gay had anything to do with him being dishonest?! His stance and weasel words defending the indefensible is what gets my goat!
Laws is a peculator and thief.
£40k is just a specimen figure, its nearer £100k that this liitle crook has rooked the taxpayers of.
His claim that its wasn’t for personal gain is about as challenging as the Nuremburg defence. He claimed the money and pocketed it. He claimed money that he wasn’t entitled to, he took money with no receipts, he knowingly with malice aforethought claimed for expenses that he had not incurred. That’s theft. That sort of defence is inadmissable in court, if he was a benefit claimant he would be in jail not making an apology in the house.
The claim that he was trying to protect his sexuality is specious and a pile of rubbish.
Laws needs to be subjected to the full weight of legal charge, he is an intelligent man, an ex-banker, so understands the morality and ethical issues that affected his expenses and the manner in which they were claimed.
He has no defence and needs to be made an example of.
As for Clegg’s continued support, that is a clear demonstration of the man’s stupidity and unfitness for government office.
We should open a campaign to get Stephenson, the Met Commissar to open criminal proceedings.
+1
Open a inquiry into evey MPs expenses over last 20 years, We are being fed scraps with the 7-8 tokens we have been fed.
Why didn’t he follow my example and shred all the evidence ??
And you, Sir, should be charged with the average of all other MP’s false claims.
Bad luck if your “evidence” was shredded and you cannot prove otherwise.
Guilty, at least by association.
By peculater do you mean you can make coffee by bubbling boiling water up his bum?
Sometimes it’s better to bubble your “boiling water” through a hooker.
…ladies and gentlemen of this supposed jury, I have one final thing I want you to consider. Ladies and gentlemen, this is Chewbacca. Chewbacca is a Wookiee from the planet Kashyyyk. But Chewbacca lives on the planet Endor. Now think about it; that does not make sense!
Why would a Wookiee, an 8-foot-tall Wookiee, want to live on Endor, with a bunch of 2-foot-tall Ewoks? That does not make sense! But more important, you have to ask yourself: What does this have to do with this case? Nothing. Ladies and gentlemen, it has nothing to do with this case! It does not make sense! Look at me. I’m a lawyer defending a major record company, and I’m talkin’ about Chewbacca! Does that make sense? Ladies and gentlemen, I am not making any sense! None of this makes sense! And so you have to remember, when you’re in that jury room deliberatin’ and conjugatin’ the Emancipation Proclamation, does it make sense? No! Ladies and gentlemen of this supposed jury, it does not make sense! If Chewbacca lives on Endor, you must acquit! The defense rests.
Where did he set off from though? Are you assuming it was parliament? Could have been 50 miles away.
A supreme twat with a stench of insincerity around him.
Thtickth and thtoneth may bweak my boneth….
Advised to for security reasons? Making a subtle point that “sustainable transport” is mostly pie-in-the-sky woolly thinking?
Hopefully.
Phil, avoid the hippies trying to sell you monorails.
If he had a joint mortgage on the property, and paid that, I presume that would have been within the rules.
Would the details of a joint mortgage have been private?
Jacqui Smith benefitted from a similar sum of taxpayers’ cash to which she wasn’t entitled. She didn’t resign, and the electorate punished her for it at the next election. Laws should consider his future – he’s intelligent and able enough to make a contribution to the world outside politics, but if he chooses to stay in parliament, this stain will always adhere to his character.
I would guess that most people outside of Westminster have never heard of David Laws or his crimes. Most people outside of Westminster were fully aware of Jacqui Smith and her crimes.
I reckon he will stay and within a few months he will be attending cabinet.
I think you’re wrong. He resigned his cabinet post after only 17 days, and that was big news so soon into a new government. I think most people will have enough recollection of that to make a difference – and in the end, itmight be his constituents, who might reasonably be expected to take a closer interest than most people – who could make the decision for him.
His constituents as far as I can tell have been mainly supportive. There does not seem to be a feeling that he stolen from us as there was with Mrs Timney.
Also just as importantly the press are not calling for his scalp.
It’s no good assuming that most people have any intelligence at all.
FFS look how many continue to vote Liebour,
and for balance, how many read The Daily Mail.
Sorry InLaws, I must say I don’t know anyone who hasn’t heard of the Laws Affair. He is always referred to in the ‘they’re all at it’ category.
Dick Timney was so aware of her that he went to TelevisionX
Wasn’t there supposed to be an ability to “recall” an MP being pushed through by the Coalition?
Al this fawning over him, why? He is a discraged former cabinet minister (one of the shortest serving ever!)
We don;t want anyone following Mandy’s example.
Why? Supporters of people in politics generally are tribal tossers and immune to reason or rationale.
Laws should consider his future – Unlike Mrs Smith he’s intelligent and able enough to make a contribution to the world outside politics
Guido,
re your recent tweet. Is Elliot Morley getting sentenced today? If so, my money is on 15 months. It would be rather a good day if Laws resigns as well.
When is Lord Tail or going to be sentenced?
He is a thief.
He committed fraud against the taxpayer over a long period of time.
He did now want the taxpayer to know that he was furnishing his love next with their money.
In the private sector he would be going to prison.
One law for us, another law for them.
Not good enough – I think we should hang some of these troughing bastards as a deterent to the other would be arrogant thiefs & fraudsters in the House of Shame
My thoughts precisely Sandra. Fancy a drink after work?
Any radio DJ out there with the balls to play the Pet Shop Boys, Rent, & dedicate it to Laws & his Lover?
God, I hope so
He should be in prison, not scheming his way back into high office.
The man is a thief & should be thrown out of Parliament if he does not have the decency to resign.
No honour this modern political class, no honour at all.
I have a sneaky suspicion he’ll be ‘resigned’ by the electorate when they next come to vote. It might be quite telling if he makes it that far – if he’s sacked and replaced, it would suggest Clegg is optimistic that the LibDems have a future. If he’s allowed to hang on until the end, it would suggest Clegg expects the party to die a death and he may as well let his pal continue milking the system to the bitter end.
You might be right.
May 2011
LibDems remain the largest party represented on the 60-seat council with 31 councillors with the Conservatives on 25 and independents on four.
It means that the LibDems have seen their majority on the council reduced from 14 from the 2007 elections to just two.
Hang ‘em all!
Here’s another sponging off the state
http://www.thisisstaffordshire.co.uk/news/MP-claims-4p-176-yard-car-trip/article-3550073-detail/article.html
Bargain. How long did it take to travel 0.1 miles in a car? How long to start and stop and park? Got to be a minute at least. Then he has to fill out the expense form. At least another minute. That’s 4p for two minutes of his time. Or 1.20p an hour.
The key thing is that all that time he’s driving his car or filling out an expense form – he’s not fucking anything else up.
I would cheerfully pay the c*unts all 1.20 an hour to do fuck all.
An absolute bargain.
Like so many areas in this country it is very difficult to obtain justice. Organisations create a big show of having procedures to supposedly ensure justice and conducting investigations when wrong is done. However that’s all it is, a big show, a pretence. It is time that society not only demonstrated its concern but rose up and swept away those people in authority who are economic with the truth, have selective recall, close ranks etc. It’s not only politicians but many other parts of the public sector such as the police, Independant Police Complaints Commission, government departments and their agencies such as the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory.
Indeed, the GMC being a particular favourite of mine.
missed your post before lodging mine, below.
Willie Hague might be ‘consoling’ him in the back office
don’t think so – Laws is a delicate, precious little thing.
Billy’s big Yorkshire knob up his arse might split him in two.
Andrew Adonis is a fucking twerp. And a more inappropriate surname I can’t imagine.
Disagree. He is one of our better politicians.
should have chucked you off a tall building.
His mistake Stella, was to not throw you down the lift shaft.
Stella and shaft?
Wouldn’t have thought that about her.
Not very classy to gloat when someone has the decency to apologise for something
Quite.
How dishonourable for Creasy to disclose such a letter. Shame on her.
Well fuck me up the arse with a plastic dildo
I have a super-injunction, don’t yer know!
Piss off Handycock you pervert.
At the very least Laws displays lamentable judgement.
Outright dishonesty/borderline criminality wasn’t enough to keep Labour politicians out of power under Bliar & , but it should be enough to keep him out of a ConDem government for at least the first 5 yr term.
If he does get re-elected and the libs jion goverment again, i could stomch it, but he should repay the money first.
The cross-party committee said Mr Laws had already repaid £56,592 – the full amount of his second home allowance claims between July 2006 and July 2009
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1386255/David-Lawss-apology-Commons-suspension.html
Was the option to pay back monies taken by deception and escape prosecution given to everyone else who had done the same?
If your a gayer you’ll be give the benefit of the doubt so long as you don’t call us homophobic.
When the Hong Kong Police were believed to be corrupt to the core (almost, but not quite), the solution was the Independent Commission against Corruption staffed by “untouchables”, mainly imported from the UK. Once the police were cleaned up they turned their attention to the rest of the civil service, the HK government and business. They were very successful.
The Nation needs something like this now, free of government interference to investigate MPs, Civil Servants, Chief Constables and Judges–for a start.
+1
I was there at the time and it was truly wonderful to behold.
To allow Laws back would be a massive poitical mistake. Would play into UKIP’s hands and prevent a proper Conservative majority.
There isn’t a proper Conservative Party to benefit from any majority.
You mean the Laws that supports a referendum on our membership of the EU?
Personally, I think Law’s claims were no where near as many others. All this talk of fraud is a little excessive, he bent the definition of living with a partner in order to hide his sexuality, but he didn’t profit from it financially because he could of claimed the same amount in other ways, very much unlike the serial home flippers who are still in cabinet.
What he did was wrong and the punishment right – what about Jackie Smith she took £100,000 from the taxpaper – how much did she pay back NOTHING
I think that is outrageous. I had to pay back £4000.00 for fiddling my mortgage claims.
I am devastated. I offered a contribution but it appears to have disappeared…One finds oneself overwrought,and in need of triple distilled comfort.
When the rules changed, all Laws had to do, along with his ‘flatmate’, was rent a property off a third party land ord and claim half the rent and utilities back on his allowances. Gets his costs paid and secures his privacy.
Ah, but then- his partner would not have part of his mortgage paid by the taxpayer and not benefit from the capital appreciation in his property. Right.
Look at this out of touch tosser.
looks like he shares many of Laws’ “interests” – no wonder he’s sympathetic.
Over the top reaction a one week suspension !
you fuckin muppet try THIRTY fuckin years ,
thats a fuckin over reaction
Justified wave of sympathy……….You got to be FUCKIN kidding me……….
Then again every one of those Hunts are at it………..
Career over he will not get elected again !
So they will piss him off to Europe to “Carry on Defrauding ” from Brussels
he’ll need to check with his boyfriend first – not so many “nice” clothes shops for them in Brussels
Guido is, of course, well known for demanding that MPs follow the letter rather than the spirit of the rules when it comes to expenses.
FFS give the poor bastard a fair trial then hang the c*unt!!
Having now read the Standards Committee’s report (http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201012/cmselect/cmstnprv/1023/102302.htm), it all seems a bit of a storm in a teacup.
The Commissioner and the Committee found that Laws should have designated his London home (i.e. the one shared with Lundie) as his main home from 2005, rather than the large and substantial house he owned in Somerset. If he had done this, the Somerset home would have been his second home and he would have been able to claim large mortgage interest payments on it. The (legitimate) claims would have been higher than what he in fact claimed on the London home.
(Of course, if Laws had changed his home designation in this way, he would no doubt have been accused of “flipping” for personal advantage).
Sorry, but I really can’t get very worked up about technical breaches of the rules in circumstances where the beneficiary would have been entitled to more if he had presented things in the proper way.
From the Standards Committee’s report
“Due to the secrecy Mr Laws adopted, it is now impossible to establish with any certainty the extent to which the rental claimed was excessive, given the passage of time, the difficulty in finding precise comparators, and the disparity between Mr. Laws’ rental agreement and the arrangements which were actually in place.”
Don’t apologise. Lesson learned. From now on if any of we public get into trouble all we have to do is ensure the waters are muddy enough so no one can retrace our steps and then claim some personal angst. It is the same for everyone isn’t it?
Commissioner accepts, although Laws broke the rules, this was not done intentionally. (There was no intention to deceive).
Laws is a liar and a thief. He took public money falsely and provided false contracts to do what he did. He should resign.
LAWS IS A THIEF
Laws is a laws breaker
Howay man pet izzit cos shez a geordie like that she got an injunction preventing the press from reporting that she glassed a punter in a pub?
He claimed a minimum of 200 and as much as 300 pound in rent more than was allowable over a period of some five years, I think it was..
He has not paid it all back. The report states clearly that all money has not been paid back as they were unable to fairly ascertain what would have been an appropriate rent for a fixed period that he claimed.
He was found guilty of numerous breaches including the wrongful designation of his first home for over five years.
He downloaded and made up – or he and his partner did – a tenancy agreement. If that was not deliberate fraud, I don’t know what is.
If you feel strongly that justice has not been served, refer him to The Met yourselves, that is the narrative from the Standards Committee…if a member of the public believes a criminal offence has been committed, they can refer the matter to The metropolitan Police themselves.
If he had not been outed by his won expense claims, then he would still be claiming it now.
own (typo) expenses claims
First sentence on rent claims should state per calendar month, 200 to 300 pound more per calendar month over five years