Great meeting with David Cameron today at 2pm. Totally abated my fuming anger.

 

Not so very long ago I was having lunch with a journalist. When it came to time to order drinks I asked for sparkling water. The journo looked surprised, ordered the water and then ordered a bottle of £48 wine from the menu, and then asked the waiter not to take the cork out.

 

I realised that he was taking the wine home, on expenses. I feebly muttered “I hope your editor doesn’t think I have expensive taste in wine?” To which he replied, “the editor never sees the receipts”.

 

This same journalist has been heaping scorn on MPs over the last few days!

 

I will say what I have always said; there are 650 of us here. Most who have given up half of our lives to get here and appreciate what an absolute honour and privilege it is.

 

Most of us live a normal, frugal existence and struggle to pay the bills, just like everyone else. The majority are honest. The majority do not deserve to be treated with the scorn and anger which is being heaped upon us. But we are.

 

 

David demonstrated fantastic leadership today. He has taken the issue by the horns and laid down ground rules which every honest MP was screaming out for.

 

It would never in a million years cross my mind to buy a house with tax payers money, do it up and then sell for a profit and buy another. Not only would it never cross my mind, but I had no idea anyone else was doing it! Hazel Blears may not have broken any rules, however, to operate a property development company on the side using the allowances system was outrageous and totally different in both intent and purpose from someone who had made a genuine mistake. Just for the record, I have not bought any property with my allowances, despite being innundated with 100% mortgage offers the first month I became an MP. It just never felt very comfortable to me.

 

My day has been spent with Barristers, for one reason and another. Tomorrow I have a very complicated constituency case which I am presenting to the Ministry of Justice in Westminster Hall, and therefore have no time to blog until after it is over. I will post the speech once delivered. I don’t often take constituency work into the chamber; however, this is a very special case.

Nadine. There is an old country proverb. If you work with chickens, you get covered in chicken dro ppings. I reckon that there are at least 600 MPs who are clear of all but the most trivial offences against the Public Purse, tho' your biscuits give me cause for concern. :) You showed great courage in taking on the child murderers, so we know you are a principled lady. What you and the others ofthe 600 are culpable of is not raising their voices in protest against the sleazy activities of the few. You doubtless think this rough justice, but it is a point you cannot ignore. In ancient Greece, 600 saved western civilisation. In modern Britain, 600 went missing.

A good post.

Saw Cameron on the news, he was f*****g brilliant. Love your blog too.

DC was bang on, that was all we wanted, leadership.

Please don't go missing when the other DC takes on the speaker

Exactly my thoughts, leadership skills demonstrated, brillant

It must be very obvious to anyone who comes across you,that you have a passion for politics. In my experience those with a passion for their vocation tend to put far, far more into it than they take out.They also tend to be very self-critical if they are not wholly satisfied with their performance, as you sometimes are (ie."did they bomb on Question Time").Although your passion must be sorely tested in such times as these, please don't imagine that the public automatically assume you're all as bad as one another. We know you're not. I was going to say that YOU are worth your weight in gold but that would be putting a value to it and although high (price not weight!), would still never be enough.

After watching David Cameron last night, I was impressed. Sadly, Mr Brown made an error when he told Nick Robinson that an agreement had been reached, which turned out not to be correct. I do not think that Mr Brown was deliberately misleading, he is undergoing intolerable distress and he made another mistake in his judgement. He looked tired. I was very impressed with you, insofar that you have not taken advantage of your position and you have not cheated your constituents. I think Hazel Blares was “cool” under the circumstances; I would have been embarrassed and humiliated, but she blatantly stood firm. She was and is totally wrong, because she was only offering to pay the taxes that were due to the Inland Revenue. We all pay our taxes because we endeavour to be honest. Hazel Blares did not offer to pay back the profit she has made, nor did she apologise to her constituents for misusing their money.

The difference is Nadine is that the journo is working in the PRIVATE sector and his actions are responsible to his employer just as yours are to the public.

I am in agreement that David Cameron has done well on this. He has firmly drawn a line. Those who have embarassed the party (most inadvertantly & within the rules) are to pay back the money and remain in the party. There will be no such claims in the future, and the ambiguities done away with by general principles. In biblical language, the repetant are forgiven and welcomed back into the fold. The Prime Minister claims to have gone further, but has not drawn that line. MPs have the promise of stricter rules and independent checking, but no general guidance. Under the PM the issue will drag on and on, and parliament will be damaged further.

Journalis hypocracy also needs to be exposed. Please name the journalist in question.

I agree with earlier comment the journo does not have the same responsibity you have to the tax payer. You are not in an equivilant position to him, i am not defending him however.