Former Tory peer Lord Hanningfield is out today after serving just nine weeks in the slammer for his systematic gaming of the expenses system that netted him over £14,000 of taxpayer cash.

He was sentenced to nine months.

He’s lucky there wasn’t a riot on the day he was caught…

UPDATE: Sky’s Sophy Ridge reports Taylor is out today as well.

Sir Stuart may have sold his Paris apartment, nevertheless Guido believes the local paper about their absentee MP…

What a strange coincidence: after a hounding from his local press and an investigation launched by the Labour Party, Sir Stuart Bell has taken up the tool that many of his colleagues use to convince us they are doing something:

Welcome to the official twitter of Sir Stuart Bell MP for Middlesbrough—
Sir Stuart Bell (@StuartBellMP) September 08, 2011

Why not use Twitter to ask him what the weather is like in Paris?

Via @jimwaterson

UPDATE: Turns out it’s fake. Guido isn’t quite sure why someone would go to the effort for such a dull fake, but c’est la vie. Miliband’s office have told the BBC that the Chief Whip has had a “stern conversation” with Bell. A classic Labour Party “investigation”.

Sir Stuart Bell is calling everyone else liars about his disdain for his constituency, his uncontactability and general B’stardish behaviour. He has form for such bluster, during the expenses crisis he acted as the trougher-in-chief and shop steward for MPs via the shameful Members Estimate Committee, doing everything in its power to frustrate meaningful reform and discovery of the truth. Night after night he would deny there was anything untoward in regard to MPs’ expenses, like a Comical Ali in pinstripes.

It has long been rumoured that Bell keeps a flat in Paris where he used to work as a lawyer. It is said that on Friday, or even Thursday afternoons, instead of getting the train north to his constituency he catches the Eurostar east to Paris for the weekend. Far away from the tiresome demands of his constituents. He admits to having written four novels and numerous short stories in Paris, where does a supposedly busy and dutiful MP find the time? Francophile Bell the boulevardier is secretary of the Franco-British Parliamentary Relations Committee in the Commons and a recipient of the Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur, presumably for services to the Paris restaurant trade.  No doubt he will claim that his weekends in the City of Light are parliamentary business…

Sir Stuart Bell’s behaviour flagged up by Guido earlier has put the cat amongst the pigeons. Labour have put out a line:

 “Ed Miliband and the Labour Party expect the highest standards from Labour representatives.It is totally unacceptable if the public cannot reach their MP. A number of allegations have been raised and these will be discussed with Sir Stuart.”

Developing…

Stories about Sir Stuart Bell always tickle Guido. The veteran Labour MP hasn’t held a surgery for 14 years. It seems his local paper in Teesside has finally lost their rag with him and gave him two barrels yesterday:

The Gazette made a total of 100 calls to Sir Stuart’s two published telephone numbers during weekday office hours between May and July, when Parliament broke up for the summer. We used a variety of different Middlesbrough landline numbers and mobile phones – to conceal the fact that the calls were coming from this newspaper – and a log was kept of exactly when each call was made .No one ever answered the phone. All calls rang out to an answering machine.

Yesterday afternoon the Gazette made calls to the published telephone numbers for Tom Blenkinsop, Alex Cunningham, James Wharton and Ian Swales – the four other Teesside MPs – and each was answered by a member of staff at the first attempt.

Surely he can get his calls forwarded to his place of residence. France…

After Darling finally told the truth over the last week about the splits and vicious divides at the top of the Labour government, this headline has certainly triggered the irony klaxon:

Funny that Gordon has time to knock out copy for the Chinese, but won’t turn up to Parliament to represent his constituents…

No wonder it took so long for the CPS to put this together – they are throwing the whole book at her. Perhaps now they will have more time now to focus on other politically sensitive cases…

Having conned the taxpayer out of £98,000 the former Labour MP Margaret Moran will finally be charged by the CPS today. The other Labour MPs to face criminal charges have been tried and served, some of, their sentences in the time it has taken to show that Moran had three-second homes in four months and the dry rot she got fixed for £20,000 was at neither her constituency or second home.

The Telegraph weirdly refers to Moran as the last MP under investigation. Now that’s just not true, is it Mr MacShane?

It may be silly season finally and things are winding down but sometimes are story comes in that just writes itself. Did you hear the one about the junkie LibDem councillor who stole thousands of pounds?  Christopher Basson, claimed he had “depression and anxiety” in order to con the DWP out of £12,000 in incapactiy benefit, while pocketing a further £26,000 as a Camden councillor. While kids are being locked up for nicking packets of sweets, the heroin addict got a suspended sentence…