New Labour

Blears marched to cashpoint?

Corruption, New Labour, UK politics
Published on 1 Comment on Blears marched to cashpoint?

Well, at least she is waving a big cheque around of taxes she owns on the sale of her second home:

Hazel Blears benefit cheat

Hazel Blears has said she will pay £13,332 in capital gains tax on the sale of her “second home” after criticism about her expenses claims.

The communities secretary told Commons staff her London flat was her “second home” on which she claimed expenses.

But when she sold it she did not pay CGT, due on homes the Inland Revenue does not consider a “main residence”.

She said she had acted within the rules but knew people were “really angry” and paying it was “the right thing to do”.

[…]

She was accused of changing the property she designated as her “second home” twice in one year – first claiming her Salford home was her second home, then changing it to a London flat which she sold before buying another London flat and claiming expenses on that.

Getting Very Silly II

Corruption, New Labour, Video
Published on

Temper, temper, Lord Foulkes:

Looks like government nerves are getting a little frayed.

This would be the same Lord Foulkes who claimed £54,000 in expenses from the House of Lords, including overnight subsistence of £21,014 and a day subsidy (meals and extra travel) of £7,626, despite concurrently sitting as a Scottish member of Parliament.

What did his lordship’s party colleagues think of his performance? Not a lot. Labourhome:

Lord Foulkes disgraces himself on the BBC

In response to being pressed about what the public might think of all these expenses claims when they are having to tighten their belts, Foulkes says “No!”, showing his ignorance. He then starts spouting the party line on funding for health and education and prisons etc. He refuses to answer whether they should be made to pay back the money, then attacks the BBC for “sneering at democracy”. Yes, that’s right: a member of the House of Lords accused the BBC of undermining democracy when they try and hold people like him to account.”

Do they actually have to be strung up from lampposts before they get it?

Some Uses Of Bailout Cash

Culture, Life under Capitalism, New Labour
Published on

We may be tightening our belts and scared for the future but some still have a bob or two.

yacht-falcon

Maltese Falcon
Considered by many to be the finest sailing yacht ever built, a gargantuan 88 metres long, as tall as the tablet in the arm of the Statue of Liberty, and with revolutionary sails that “disappear” into self-standing carbon-fibre masts, which themselves rotate. Owned by Silicon Valley billionaire Tom Perkins, this 12-berth beauty is stocked with every luxury, gadget and sleek interior detail that $130 million can buy (including next year a submarine that looks like a shark). Booked for 2009; after that, about €350,000 for a week.

€350,000? For a week? A fortune to most but Pocket money to some.

It occurs to me that the ideal Prime Ministerial post-resignation break for the man who enabled that situation (should Gordo ever resign rather than have to be be forcibly dragged out of Downing St, gibbering like a baby) would be a week on this yacht.

Labour ministers always like indulging themselves like pampered billionaires and the price is all-in, so he could even take Mandelson along to talk over old times. Peter loves yachting.

They could cruise Indian Ocean. No need to submit a reciept for expenses either. We could call it a gift from a grateful nation.

Labour To MPs – Keep On Troughing, You’ve Done Nothing Wrong

New Labour, Uh? WTF?, UK politics
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Oink, Oink, Oink. So much for shame. Peter Riddell, The Independent:

A remarkable email, sent to Labour members by the Parliamentary Labour Party’s office and leaked to The Independent, says: “It would be easy for the public to gain the impression from this [media] coverage that MPs are generally claiming excessively or outside the rules laid down by Parliament, which is not the case.”

The briefing paper, from the PLP’s resource centre, insisted that the expenses claims disclosed in recent days enjoyed “the full approval of the parliamentary authorities”

[…]

Today MPs will launch a drive to restore public confidence in the system.

More…

Good luck with that. Squeal, piggies, squeal!