Chris Huhne characteristically passes the blame…
“I have full confidence that my agent declared my election expenses correctly and I look forward to this complaint being rejected”
The LibDem blogosphere whipped itself up into a sandal-throwing tantrum of self-righteous fury when the Sunlight Centre reported Chris Huhne to the Electoral Commission last week, regarding his election expenses. “Nothing to see here” was the line crafted by yellow-blog chief Mark Pack and fed down the line. In rowed various vicious weirdie-beardies attempting to debunk the complaint and whine that a dead horse was being flogged…
Well today the Electoral Commission have announced that they are launching an official case review into Huhne on the back of the same said complaint. Unlike a rejected complaint last week, the Commission believes that this time there is evidence of possible offences under the Representation of the Peoples Act 1983. They have decided further assessment is needed and will report on the 24th August. Looks like there is something to see here after all Mr Pack…
Without a hint of irony Polly Toynbee said in her column this morning:
“Public perception of the shape of society has been so warped that most no longer know how others live, where they stand in relation to the rest, who earns what or why.”
Too true. Did you know the multi-millionairess, three-property-owning, Tuscany dwelling, bleeding-heart socialist gets paid £2,300 per week to write such drivel? Guido reckons you could fill a book with such hypocrisy. Now there’s a thought…
UPDATE: A co-conspirator emails; “When I was a glorified tea boy on the Andrew Marr show, Toynbee was the only person who ever made me remake her cup of tea. ‘What have you done? Far too much milk. Could you make me another please.’ Just what you want having been up since five on a Sunday morning.” Classy.
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…
Is anyone actually surprised by the fact that 81% of peers are opposed to reforming the House of Lords? Ironically that’s the figure that will end up being elected if the Coalition Agreement is implemented. The Times thundered this morning that Clegg’s plans were facing a revolt. What did they think was going to happen?
With only four hundred peers actually doing any work, or even turning up, regardless of whether you think they should be elected or not, it’s time for a cull. In other news, public sector workers don’t like spending cuts…
While his little brother is away on his honeymoon, part time MP David Miliband has taken some time off from serving his constituents to top up the £190,000 he has earned this year alone. Speaking at the Hay Literary Festival, you can see why Labour’s “King Over the Water” chose to dodge his brother’s wedding party:
“If you look at the Parliamentary Tory party and the Lib Dems, they have got some strengths over us. They have got more doctors in Parliament than we have. They have more military officers. The Tories are trying to open up. We have to make sure we look like the country we represent, not just our supporters.”
Very on message. Though he has a better view from the back rather than the front…
“We should be for the Big Society. Why should we allow a piece of political positioning to rob us of an important part of our political identity? I never understood that in the last government Gordon Brown’s instinct was to fight Big Society. They are reoccupying ground we previously held.”
David’s Movement For Change is signed up to the BS as well as providing an alternative loyal foot-soldier following…
“I didn’t want to play into a soap opera, but I want to help in any way I can, Labour need support in order to break the mould of Labour lapsing into long-term opposition.”
Comments like that are particularly helpful…
