Guido has interrupted his second bottle of the excellent local Rosé d’Anjou – courtesy of those LibDem punters who were a little too optimistic about Bromley – to read his email. A very gracious email from John Hemming and a bizarre comment on the Beeb website from that android, Hazel Blears;
the Bromley and Chislehurst result had been an “absolute disaster” for David Cameron’s leadership. “People vote tactically in by-elections and clearly there was a move here to vote anything but Tory.”
Err, Labour came fourth behind UKIP. They got beat in Wales by an independent despite the herculean efforts of the entire Labour party campaign machine. It was “anything but Labour” last night, so did she actually believe that when she said it? Why do politicians spout crap like that? Does she expect us to believe it?
Conservative chairman Francis Maude said he was pleased his party had won in Bromley and Chislehurst but “disappointed” at the margin of victory.
Blunkett is suing the Sunday Times and The Times over their reporting of his expenses fiddle [as linked]. Steven Swinford wrote the articles about the disgraceful fiddle whereby MPs claim off the taxpayer for interest and furnishing costs even if they don’t have a mortgage (or new furniture). It is, they always say when challenged, “within the rules”.
But it is not honourable or justifiable, it is a blatant fiddle ripping off the taxpayer for non-existent expenses.
The article in question identified David Blunkett, Jack Straw, John Prescott, Geoff Hoon, Ruth Kelly and Margaret Beckett as fiddling between them hundreds of thousands of pounds in unjustified expenses. It is a joke at the taxpayers expense that they are allowed to get away with this.
Guido hopes the Sunday Times & The Times stick to their guns. It is not as if Blunkett has much of a reputation to defend – he is a proven liar who has been caught fiddling his expenses before and has had to resign from office in disgrace twice. Blunkett is feeling a bit cocky having won a couple of court cases recently. This one he deserves to lose.
Here is something of interest, of the mortgage fiddling men named in Swinford’s article – Blunkett, Prescott, Straw and Hoon – the first two have been exposed in the press for having illicit affairs, the latter two have not as yet.
See also :
Hoon Fiddles Expenses “In Accordance With The Rules”
Four Lords A-Fiddling
Ben Abbotts claimed to have helped out in an orphanage during his gap year and put the photos in an election leaflet. Turns out he “helped out” for a few hours. In another leaflet he was pictured cleaning graffiti off a wall near the LibDem campaign office with the slogan “Crime Action Needed Now. It’s time to restore pride.” Ben is pictured taking action, proudly. An outraged constituent, Jaj, sent Guido these pictures. Full story here. Ben Abbott is a professional liar who works for the grubbiest spin merchants in Westminster – LLM (Lobbying, Lying and Mendacity) – so you would have thought that, as a pro, he would have realised he would be caught out faking photos. He didn’t do anything more than don marigolds for the photo op – the graffiti is still there…
Tony’s former spinner Tim Allan now spins for ASDA which doubles the emnity of Labour backbenchers. It was, in these circumstances, amusing for a co-conspirator to hear Hugh Bayley MP on a jolly junket to Arkansas, opining that concern in the U.S. and Europe about losing jobs overseas sometimes overlooked the creation of jobs from globalisation. “You can’t wish away globalisation, you have to find ways to turn it to your advantage,” Bayley said during a meeting with companies that sell products to Wal-Mart Stores Inc., “If Wal-Mart is an example, it is one of creating jobs,” Bayley said. Yes Hugh, but will the comrades understand?
