Jim Devine has ranted against Guido in a letter to the prisoners’ rag Converse. He claims that because of the internet he did not get  a fail trial as his reputation was “trashed”. Only one person trashed Jim Devine’s reputation and that was Jim Devine, not least with his car-crash TV confession.

Forging VAT numbers and invoices didn’t help either.

“Along with my parliamentary colleagues my public and private reputation was trashed on the internet… I know several senior MPs that are very concerned about the ability of an individual to receive a fair trial in the internet age.”

Devine also claimed that several senior MPs told him it was fine to fiddle his expenses. Something the judge branded him a liar for. Guido is proud of the role we played in bringing Devine to justice. This unedifying moaning only serves to trash his name further.

The Sports and Social Club on the parliamentary estate didn’t earn it’s nickname the Sports and Socialist for nothing. A regular haunt for Labour types, things have got out of hand in the past, but it has been particularly rowdy in recent weeks. One of the bar staff told Guido on Friday:

“Everyone’s noticed that the atmosphere in here has turned very nasty, especially on Thursdays and Fridays. The Labour kids are inviting down all their friends who are very young and get very drunk. The place is being treated like a Students’ Union Bar and things have to change. Black Rod is considering banning guests, he’s really unhappy.”

Tory bagcarriers who also use the bar for a cheap pint aren’t very happy either:

“A plea to Labour researchers, can you please stop inviting dozens of your friends down to get drunk and shout abuse at people. There are fights in there every week now. Its a disgrace…”

The fisticuffs and low tolerance has led to one researcher being hauled into the Serjeant at Arms office, and Black Rod has decreed that pass-holders may only bring two guests on a Thursday and Friday. Guido has a better idea – why not scrap the taxpayer subsidy and put the prices up to match anywhere else in Central London, then see if people still flock there. 

Guido has been amusing himself with a new toy this afternoon. The Commons Performance Cockpit is designed to introduce some business metrics to the Commons. Using expenses data and MPs attendance and performance information, you can rank Members on value for money.

One fact caught Guido’s attention:

“MP Dennis Skinner wins Commons voting record: He voted in 98.4% of all debates in 2010. Compare this with the member for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath who managed to vote in only 33 (13%) of the debates. Relate this to their total costs per debate they voted in and we find Mr Skinner cost £321 whilst Mr Brown cost £3,164 each time they voted.”

Now there is a surprise.

Given he is the first and only MP to be investigated twice by the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner for his curious expenses, it’s no surprise to see Bill Wiggin’s seat high on the list of constituencies likely to face the chop under the boundary review. Given his own association have tried de-selecting the arrogant old-Etonian in the past, it’s unlikely he will find open arms elsewhere…

Despite him being married to the Prime Minister’s ex-girlfriend, it looks like Cameron is finally living up to his word and ensuring that his old school chum went “out of the door”. In the most cowardly way possible…

IPSA have released the expenses figures for the last quarter and guess who managed to rack up an £8,870 bill? In the last three months Gordon Brown has not spoken in the House, nor has he voted in the House and it seems he only shows up to see Obama. In fact Gordon asked just two written questions back in March. So why exactly are we paying him four and half grand a pop?

The excuse that his constituency is a long way away, so he needs to claim more, doesn’t wash when he’s not actually doing any work for his constituents.

Meanwhile the former Prime Mentalist earned £70,000 for just one speech in Vegas…

Lord Taylor would not be going to prison for a year without a combination of bloggers and Jonathan Calvert of the Sunday Times. Taylor, a former barrister, dishonestly claimed £11,277. For background on the case see Pesky Bloggers Do It Again (Nov, 2009). Amusingly he claimed to a co-conspirator on the Lords of the Blog not long before being charged that:

“For your information, the police have examined my expenses. The police are satisfied that there has been no impropriety or any other cause for concern. They have thanked me for my cooperation, and will not be taking the matter further.”

Alas that turned out to be untrue when it was challenged by a co-conspirator, that very claim on his blog set in course a chain of events that led to him going down today. He would have got away with it if it wasn’t for those pesky bloggers…

The seventy-year-old Tory peer racked up £14,000 of fake accommodation charges between March 2006 and May 2009. He wasn’t staying in town, but being chauffeured back to Essex instead. His claims that “they were all at it”, however true, did little to help his case. The prosecution closing statement was damning:

“There was no real honesty in making claims that way, because of four reasons – the written rules, the golden rule of ‘don’t make a claim for more than you spend’, there’s nothing to suggest this was the practice, and his behaviour. The way he filled out the forms does not suggest he really believed the rules allowed him to make false claims. It was a deliberate and dishonest decision on his part to fill in the forms in that way.”

He will be sentenced in three weeks time…

Isn’t it funny how Brown won’t turn up to Parliament to represent the people of Kirkcaldy and earn the £65,738, plus expenses and the pension, we pay him? Instead he goes around the world as he bids to restore his reputation, banking thousands for speeches while he does so. Yet Obama turns up, and he’s up there like a greyhound. Perhaps it was to complain that those DVDs didn’t work…

Neo-Guido took on Mark Pack of LibDemVoice last night on the BBC News Channel to discuss why Laws was dished out the humiliating and potentially career ending punishment:

One thing really stands out in the Parliamentary Commissioners report:

“In July 2007, Mr Laws and his landlord moved to a second London property. This was financed in part by a gift of £99,000 from Mr Laws. Mr Laws remortgaged his Somerset property to provide this sum.”

Laws “gifted” the £99,000 to his boyfriend. Effectively he put up part of the deposit. Of course if he had an ongoing interest in the property he would not have been able to claim for the “rent”. Laws deliberately and knowingly played the system to allow him to claim rent to pay for a property in which he would have had an interest if his £99,000 share hadn’t been technically written off as a “gift”. No amount of spin that he could have saved the taxpayer money if he had lived elsewhere can disguise the fact this stinks. A seven day suspension is a humiliation, but Laws, Grender and Pack etc should be glad it’s wasn’t seven months at Her Majesty’s Pleasure…

David Laws has been found guilty of six breaches of expenses rules by Commissioner for Standards. He can breath a sigh of relief that the case was shown to the coppers who did not decide to prosecute, but it’s not looking good with Parliament.

Nicholas Cecil at the Standard has more details:

“The suggestion is there were six breaches.They are understood to include breaking regulations on claims for a second home, statements made to the Commons authorities, renting property from a partner and other issues.”

That Cabinet return is looking bleak. Developing…

UPDATE: The Standards and Privaleges Committee is meeting right about now and will report back later in the week. For comparison Jacqui Smith did not get suspended, did not have to pay the money back and merely had to apologise to the House when she fiddled over £100,000.