The information contained within the black stuff on my expenses is I believe, the following;

 

My bank account details and credit card numbers.

My telephone numbers

My address

The addresses of suppliers who have retained the right to their own privacy and do not want to be identified as suppliers.

 

On Wednesday night I arrived back in the constituency to find the furniture on my patio broken to bits. I then received a blog comment which I didn’t post but which read ‘nice patio Nadine, or was’.

 

I have never claimed for furniture or gardening or petty cash or anything other than expenses incurred as part of my role as an MP. In fact, to date, I have spent almost £2000 of my own money this year entertaining constituents in the House of Commons. As a single mum with a number of dependents and responsibilities, that is money I have struggled to afford.

 

I didn’t claim for my patio furniture either. It was a present from my mum.

 

I have requested my un-redacted expenses from the fees office and will make them available to my local press to do with as they wish when they get to me.

 

Thank goodness my daughter stayed at a friends that night and when I got into the back door, both of the dogs were huddled shivering wrecks. Fat use they are!

 

The media know that 99.9% of the information contained in the black boxes is information every human being has a right to keep private.

 

I have requested my un-redacted expenses from the fees office and will make them available to my local press to scrutinise when they get to me.

 

I am switching off my comment feed until Monday.

Nadine, of course we appreciate that most of the blacked out items are private details which no-one has the right to know. However, can I ask what the monthly "Cellhire" invoices are for? They seem to show a charge of £95 a month for rental of a 3G data card, £40 a month for rental of a Blackberry sim card, on top of any calls you make. I understand the call charges, but £135 a month in rental charges???

dear God that is horrible news and posting a note to you is weird and disgusting. how terrifying and yes, thank goodness the girls were not there. You know that you/the police should be able to trace the perpetrator via the computer IP address that he/she blogged from? Yours hoping he/she is caught asap.

As you are my local MP I checked out your expenses on line and noted the two cameras and the McVities Biscuits but reading your blog accept the explanation of same and on going back through previous postings have thoroughly enjoyed your honest approach to political life. I didn't vote for you and I don't agree with some of your policies / principles and even worse you support Liverpool FC but I was very saddened to read this posting. Everyone must make up their own minds in respect of their own MP's expenses and they will have a chance to express that opinion in the not too distant election but the way to do that is through placing a cross in a box not through destroying someone's property. I hope that the action of a mindless idiot will not preclude you from continuing with your blog and your right to say it the way you see it.

Disgusting. So much for people criticising MPs for behaving inappropriately if this is how others respond.

I have just returned home from the restaurant which I own and run in Mid Bedfordshire. I am not sure how I am going to manage tomorrow. My wife caught both chefs tonight with 20 pre packed Sirloin steaks in their back packs as they left. You have done nothing wrong Nadine, you are a good and decent person. I am telling you this because those same two chefs were reading the Sun newspaper during the break tonight before service and both were calling MPs every disgusting word you can imagine. That was four hours before they were sacked on the spot for theft. Ive added your blog to my list :)

It is sad and, I suspect, a frightening experience to have found your furniture destroyed. Hopefully the criminals will be caught and punished. However, please don't play the poor single mum card. At £64,766/year basic plus your expenses you are hardly hard up (unless extremely profligate). Perhaps you should have a look at what the average and modal wages are in this country; even just your basic puts you in the top 10% of the population.

Chris, get real. I would never work the hours Nadine does or take onYwould have to pay me double, at least!

The money you say you pay out your own pocket to entertain guests to the House of Commons reminds me that no mention is ever made of the not considerable amount of money that MPs (especially Tory MPs) have to fork out up front before they even get to enter Parliament. As a prospective parliamentary candidate (PPC) your local party will naturally expect you to lead from the front, which often includes an unspoken assumption that you will be making substantial donations towards your own election campaign, as well as purchasing a 'base' in the constituency to prove your 'commitment' to the constituency. None of this comes cheap - especially when there is no guarantee (unless you're standing in one of those constituencies where they weigh your party's vote) that you will win the seat, irrespective of how hard you work. This appreciation of the need to have either deep pockets or wealthy friends (along with a growing awareness of the emotional strain it would subject my family to) was one of the reasons why I eventually kissed goodbye to my own parliamentary ambitions. In the mean time, I have watched other unmoneyed Conservative PPCs come close to personal bankruptcy in the unsuccessful pursuit of a seat in the Commons. It's just sad that the powers-that-be never had the courage to cut the number of MPs', scrap their 'claimable' allowances and instead incorporate the savings into paying the remaining members a more substantial salary. That way, how they spend it - extra office staff, nice flats in London or quanit little duck houses - would be entirely between them and HM Revenues & Customs.

@Anonymous Get real yourself. An MP is not underpaid. Also, I was simply pointing out that playing the "poor" single mum card doesn't work well when your basic salary is triple the average and four time the modal. Does she work harder than a policeman/fireman/RNLI sailor/squaddie etc etc?

Chris - Yes she does and may I remind you that Nadine was not stating she was underpaid. Stuart- Cellhire is expensive, they should probably be questioned for their rental charges, not Nadine.

We were disgusted that some mindless idiot thought to improve society would be to destroy other people's property. I hope the police catch the culprits because they are boung to brag and give themselves away. We hope they get their just rewards. V & A

I am not a constituent of yours, but I enjoy reading your blog. I am so sorry that you had this terrible experience. No matter how angry the public may be over the expenses problem - sometimes fairly, sometimes not-so-fairly - nothing justifies this, and I hope that the Police will find who did it. I also hope that it does not put you off doing your job as an MP.