Sitting somewhere in an office on Millbank, an IPSA employee sifts through the hundreds of responses to their consultation on MPs’ pay while trying to justify giving them an extra 10%. Here are some of the Great British public’s more forthright contributions.
D.W. Jukes speaks for a nation:
“Obviously shut up in your little Westminster bubble, you have not noticed that the rating of MPs among the electorate is at an all time low. People feel that MPs are totally out of touch with voters, and your decision to review their pay now only confirms it.”
While John F Roga is a fan of caps lock:
“THE DICTIONARY DEFINES WATCHDOG AS ONE THAT CLOSELY OBSERVES GOVERNMENTS AND ORGANISATIONS. A POODLE IS DEFINED AS AN ‘ASSIDUOUS FOLLOWER’. I KNOW WHICH CATEGORY THE PUBLIC WOULD PLACE YOU IN”
Though he’s not as angry as this anonymous writer:
“The watchdog whoever he is is he an IDIOT or what saying the MPs should get 90k a year they DON’T DESERVE 50k a year or there CARS & EXPENSES should be STOPPED until the economy is a lot better.”
Captain Bryn Wayt is getting religious on them (his use of bold):
“I submit this document as a private individual and Christian taxpayer. I furnish my thoughts on the proven fact that the majority of MP’s were fiddling their “expenses” and robbing the public purse before the Telegraph blew their game apart in 2009. Somehow, most of them escaped jail by the skin of their teeth. Such despicable and dishonest behaviour will not be tolerated ever again.”
Mr JR McAvoy makes a not unreasonable point:
“Under no circumstances should you even consider raising their generous salary’s. There would be a national outcry against if you did”
Made slightly more forcefully by F. Biard:
“WE ARE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER EVERYONE GETS THE SAME DEAL ITS A SCANDAL”
This anonymous contributor used a powerful sign-off:
“It is immoral for an MP to draw a full salary and hardly ever appear in the house. The excuse of doing constituency work does not wash. Gordon Brown, Chris Huhne, David Miliband, Liam Fox, George Galloway just some names to consider. Yet another disillusioned citizen of what was once Great Britain.”
While John Bell gave greedy MPs a choice:
“MP’s have the same option as every one else if they are unhappy. They can resign and get another job more to their liking and they should be reminded they have this option.”
Best of the bunch? Here is Robert Nielson Donald:
“sir i put it to you they do not need a pay rise they first need to stop double dealing with renting their house to a fellow member then claim expences on another house it is day light robbery, i would love to tell them face to face exactly how the public feel about this. any increase in their salary when the nation is facing price rises in fuel and many being laid off would be a kick in the teeth for the rest of the nation whilst these parasites want more, in closing can i wish you all a merry christmas and a happy new year”
Well said, Robert. Well said.
A cynic might say the wannabe next leader of the Labour Party is being shamelessly populist, but Andy Burnham is first out of the blocks to turn down his 10% pay rise:
I have always been clear that 10% pay rise for MPs cannot be justified. I won't accept it. Will turn down at source or give to local groups.
— Andy Burnham (@AndyBurnhamGM) June 3, 2015
The PM’s position on this is less equivocal.
Cameron said in 2013: “I think it would be wrong for MPs to get a big pay rise at a time of public sector pay restraint”.
Last year he threatened to abolish IPSA entirely if they did not “think again”.
Yet yesterday his Official Spokesman seemingly dropped that threat and suggested Cameron would be accepting the pay rise: “If IPSA determines MPs get a pay increase, MPs get a pay increase”.
It comes down to whether Cameron wants to give it to charity and annoy his more shallow-pocketed backbenchers three weeks into the new government…
UPDATE: Seems to be a concerted effort from certain Labour MPs up for elections to get ahead on this before PMQs:
MP pay rise unjustifiable – if it goes through will let my Walthamstow residents panel decide how to spend it on our local area !
— stellacreasy (@stellacreasy) June 3, 2015
After Nick Robinson reported that “The Labour leader’s aides say that he sees this as another Milly Dowler moment”. There was a storm and it was a contentious front page news story about which he tweeted:
Calm down Twitter. I did not quote anyone re Ed M & Milly Dowler. Said his aides saw this as moment like that ie to stand up to powerful
— Nick Robinson (@bbcnickrobinson) February 12, 2015
This was somewhat of a misdirection. In his new memoir he writes:
Lunch with Tom Baldwin. The Labour spin doctor is still buzzing after PMQs. This moment, he tells me, is like the moment when the story broke about the hacking of the murdered teenager Milly Dowler’s phone. He means they are both balance-tipping moments, the point where an issue that hasn’t previously excited most people – in one case phone- hacking within the Murdoch empire, in the other tax avoidance – suddenly galvanizes the public. This is a moment when Ed can show he’s standing up to the rich and powerful.
https://twitter.com/starfish86/status/566246961368801280
It is worth looking back on how partisan the response was to this storm, many tried to make out that Nick Robinson was the original author of the phrase:
Your quote is good. The 'someone' using 'Milly' seems to be Nick R and papers @MarkLewisLawyer @ianrobo1 @kb32904 @yorkierosie
— Peter Jukes (@peterjukes) February 13, 2015
Guido reported at the time that the “… tasteless metaphor sounds like Tom Baldwin…”
Nick Robinson: Election Notebook: The Inside Story Of The Battle Over Britain’s Future And My Personal Battle To Report It £16.59
14 FIFA officials have been charged with corruption and their President is facing calls to resign, but that hasn’t stopped football’s governing body from rolling out the red carpet for the opening ceremony of its annual conference today.
Maybe they were hoping the FBI would be distracted by their glamarous host:
Or perhaps these scantily clad female dancers:
If not, there was this dude singing Swiss power ballads:
With a ballerina:
And this lady blowing some sort of Swiss national horn:
And this guy playing the drums:
All culminating bizarrely with a lady pirouetting in a circle again and again:
And fire. Lots of fire.
You wouldn’t know their bosses had just had their doors kicked down in morning raids, would you?
Stories in the Sunday papers about Andy Burnham’s expenses will have rung a bell for Guido readers. During the height of the rent-swapping scandal in 2012, this site reported on how:
“[Burnham is] letting out a London home while renting another property in the capital at the taxpayers’ expense… taking public money to subsidise living in his London flat while renting out another London property at the same time”
Burnham is claiming £17,000 a year on expenses to rent a flat in London, despite owning another property nearby which he rents out for around £18,000.
The taxpayer is subsidising his property portfolio…
Is there any famous wrong’un who isn’t backing Miliband? Stan Collymore, who kicked his girlfriend in the head and told her he was going to “f**king kill” her, says “vote Labour”.
Good luck on Thursday @JanosToth1 !
Hope Cannock votes for a local man, working hard for everyone in our great town!#VoteLabour
— Stan Collymore (@StanCollymore) May 4, 2015
Of course, Collymore has a local connection to Cannock Chase, it being the scene of his dogging shame. He confessed: “Over the last couple of years I have been to dogging sites maybe a dozen to 15 times, and yes I have taken part and had sex during them”.
The modern Labour Party: segregators, doggers and woman-beaters all welcome…
