Four Members of Parliament expensed the taxpayer for a collective £720 to cover their own driving fines. The Independent yesterday reported that Energy Minister Amanda Solloway, Simon Hoare, Bim Afolami and SNP MP Dave Doogan all claimed tickets on expenses. Sollaway’s bill came to £80 while both Doogan and Folami expensed £160. Simon Hoare was the worst offender, with his four bills costing a total of £320…
Obviously, MPs shouldn’t be able to claim expenses for their speeding fines – as IPSA spelt out against Suella Braverman’s best wishes. In response to the story, IPSA admitted they had made a mistake, and said they would reiterate the rules to the MPs. Once again, the expenses watchdog is giving our elected officials a free ride…
UPDATE: A Tory source has been in touch to say Amanda Solloway and Bim Afolami’s fines were related to the congestion charge, rather than speeding.
UPDATE II: Simon Hoare’s expenses were also related to the congestion charge.
A new fault line is emerging in politics. Gone are the days of Leave or Remain; after the slap of the century at last night’s Oscars, you are now either Team Smith or Team Rock. SW1’s biggest hitters are already falling into their new tribes…
While Sir Keir announced on LBC he was in Rock’s corner, the Tories are still fighting it out. This morning North Dorset MP Simon Hoare claimed
“I’d just hope if someone thought it in good taste to make a joke at the expense of a medical condition of my wife then I’d get up and lamp him…”
Later on GB News, however, Westminster heavyweight Iain Duncan Smith clocked Hoare with an unexpected jab:
“Well, I’d find that an amusing sight to watch Simon Hoare… he doesn’t look to me like much of a pugilist, but anyway, the point I would simply say is… I don’t think anybody has the right to get up and hit anybody else, whatever the circumstances are… I wouldn’t recommend anybody takes action into their own hands…”
Nadhim Zahawi has also claimed his “heart goes out” to Will Smith, adding “it’s important not to allow yourself to cross [the] line.” Co-conspirators can weigh in on Guido’s poll. Meanwhile Westminster’s Punch and Judy politics rolls on…
UPDATE: Boris slaps down the Fresh Prince, his spokesperson telling the Lobby that “striking someone is never the answer”.
Most Tory MPs are keeping shtum, a couple are putting their heads above the parapet, only one is actively making the situation more difficult for No. 10: Simon Hoare. On Sky News this afternoon he informed viewers:
“This was a party organised to say, in the first instance, ‘welcome back PM’… it was also a way of saying thank you to Dominic Raab for holding the fort…”
Despite prefacing this seemingly new detail with “and this is sort of a third-hand understanding”, Simon didn’t think to double-check this fact with No. 10, nor the Deputy PM. Raab’s office has now had to formally deny this claim and say it is “categorically untrue – he wasn’t invited and didn’t attend”. Hoare’s intervention will no doubt have raabed Downing Street up the wrong way…
A rump of Remainers in Parliament spearheaded by Simon Hoare has proposed a host of wrecking amendments to the Agriculture Bill, which would serve to scupper new trade deals around the world that have been enabled by the UK’s exit from the EU. Many of the MPs involved are, unlike Hoare, not from rural constituencies and instead have a history of Brexit obstructionism. Hoare has been on his feet in the chamber this afternoon promoting the wrecking attempt…
These wrecking attempts have been bolstered by a proxy campaign from Friends of The Earth, who have instructed their obsessive troops to bombard MPs with a stock letter about the launch of trade talks with the US. As is to be expected, it contains misunderstanding, slight of hand, hyperbole, and outright falsehoods. Guido has helpfully trawled through and picked apart the points the letter makes…
Bet he’s used that gag before…
