Shamed former Tory MP David Ruffley, who was forced to quit parliament in disgrace at the election, has failed to pay back wrongly claimed expenses almost a year and a half after he stopped being an MP. IPSA say Ruffley double claimed a £144 house removals bill – they have tried again and again to get Ruffley to reimburse the taxpayer but have now given up. Guido sees Ruffley walking through Westminster every now and then, he still lives in SW1 and it’s a five minute walk from his flat to the Commons to hand in a cheque. Ruffers has an ex-members’ pass allowing him access to the corridors of power, the authorities should suspend it until he pays up.
Disgraced former Tory MP David Ruffley – remember him? – was found asleep at the wheel following a midnight prang near his Westminster home in January. The court heard today that
At about 12.30am members of the public flagged down a police car saying a car hit another car whilst parking.
On arrival, Mr Ruffley was slumped over his wheel and it was thought he was asleep.
His car was touching the Land Rover in front of it.
He said he had gone for drinks on Jermyn Street and had not eaten anything as he was on a fasting diet.
He told officers he didn’t think four glasses of Prosecco was too much, and told them “I do it regularly”.
Ruffers has been banned from driving for two years. Not helpful for his optimistic hopes of a peerage. That’ll come as a slap in the face.
A record smashing 10th anniversary year with over 30 million visits to this site in 2014. The top ten traffic posts published this year were:
- THE RESHUFFLE: All the Sackings as They Happen
- WATCH: Former Tory Whip Boasts About Paedo Cover Up
- LISTEN: Miliband’s Radio Wiltshire Clusterf**k
- Khan Crash: Sadiq’s Rush Hour Horror
- Islington MP’s Rochester Culture Shock
- EXC: Gordon Brown Office Has £10,000-a-Week “Expenses”
- Brown Office Gives Just 1 in 4 Pounds Raised to Charity
- WATCH: Penny Mordaunt’s Loyal Address in Full
- Roll Call of Shame: Every MP Who Voted Against Recall
- UKIP’s Poster Girl Quits Party Citing Racism
Here are our favourite stories of the last 12 months:
Ten hours after Guido added the word “snob” to Emily Thornberry’s now infamous “Image from Rochester“, Labour’s Islington MP had resigned from the Shadow Cabinet. ‘Snobberry’ had “never seen anything like it“, making Ed “more angry than he has ever been” and incurring the wrath of White Van Dan. According to the BBC, it was Guido wot won it. And don’t miss the tale of Lady Nugee’s walled garden…
In the absence of a Twitter storm it took slightly longer to secure the resignation of David Ruffley. Guido had reported on Ruffley’s anger management problems before, yet the Tories were silent when he accepted a caution for assaulting his ex-girlfriend. Despite Ruffers telling Guido he was “cheerful“, the people of Bury St. Edmunds demanded their MP do the decent thing, domestic violence charities called for his head and, crucially, the Dean of the local cathedral told him “your position is untenable”. In June Ruffley finally announced he would be standing down, and parliament was rid of another nasty piece of work…
2014 was a year when several Tory MPs found themselves in Guido’s crosshairs, none more so than Tim Yeo. From leadership contender to loser in nine years, this blog has been exposing Yeo’s absenteeism and conflicts of interest for the best part of a decade. In January Guido went to find troubled Tim, not in his Suffolk constituency, but in Sandwich in Kent, where he had “gone golfing“. The following month Yeo was deselected by his local party. Victory at last…
Last but not least, who can forget Brooks No-marks, the Tory women’s champion who sent a paisley-clad dick pic to our very own Sophie Wittams. Despite the wailing from the less popular parts of the press, a public service was confirmed when Brooks was revealed to have used the exact same modus operandi. Yes, yes, yes Minister.
Despite our detractors’ weak claims of bias, we’ve had a direct hand in ending the careers of three Tory MPs who had absolutely no intention of quitting in 2015. That’s 1% of the parliamentary party. Happy New Year, roll on that election.
Disgraced David Ruffley continues to strut around Westminster without a care in the world, despite being deselected by his local association in Suffolk following his caution for assaulting his girlfriend. As Guido revealed in the Sun on Sunday, now cocky Ruffley has told friends that he is line for a peerage when he stands down. Such a move would invoke the wrath of female Tory aides who complained to party whips about his behaviour:
@GuidoFawkes @WikiGuido it better fucking well not be Lord Ruffley or I'll stage the bloody sit-in myself.
— Katie P (@LadyPolitic) November 30, 2014
“News to us” says a Downing Street source.
The Recall measures announced in the Queen’s Speech would mean MPs on the Standards Committee, not local voters, will decide whether disgraced politicians should be booted out. David Ruffley’s announcement last night that he would be standing down at the election shows why it is crucial that parliament passes a proper Recall bill, not Nick Clegg’s fudge.
Who pushed the Ruffley story and forced him to fall on his sword? Not his fellow MPs on either side of the House, who were either silent or actively trying to keep him out of trouble. The people saw things differently though…
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Ruffley went mainstream because of the admirable work of women both inside and outside of the Tory party; from the Dean of St Edmundsbury’s devastating letter calling for him to quit; to the voices of women’s groups both locally and nationally, to the petition that amassed more than 40,000 signatures organised by an outraged woman. Guido understands 15 Tory women were going to publicly and openly protest Ruffley’s candidature tomorrow, some of them high profile. They were under immense pressure not to go ahead from within the party.
Ruffley will remain as the MP for Bury St Edmunds for ten months, earning more than £50,000 from his salary and pension contributions courtesy of the taxpayer when he should arguably be leaving parliament immediately. He cut a deal with the Tories and remains on board the gravy train. A Recall Bill that lets MPs decide whether their fellow MPs will face a vote is not going to work. David Ruffley shows more than ever why we need a proper Recall Bill to democratically boot out morally bankrupt politicians once and for all…
You can see all Guido’s stories about how the Ruffley story unfolded in full here.
UPDATE:
Chief Whip Michael Gove said:
“David Ruffley MP has given a huge amount to Parliament both on the Opposition Front Bench and as an outstanding member of the Treasury Select Committee. I am sorry that he will be standing down at the General Election in May 2015, but fully respect his reasons.”
