Another little Earner for MEP's

MEP's who "retire" or are voted out this Thursday along with those caught with their hands in the very deep pockets of European Expenses and the generalised fraud (anybody signed off their accounts recently?) that characterises the European Parliament can expect to pick up their share of various "pots" of money set aside to make sure that they continue traveling first class on the gravy train that is the EU.

As the Times explains

Den Dover, who was expelled from the Conservative Party for gross misconduct after claiming £500,000 in “unjustified expenses”, has a pension valued at £235,000 and will receive a “transitional allowance” of £59,367.

So after taking us for a cool half-million he still gets a nice pension and a tax free sum, whoever said crime doesn't pay never saw the workings of the European Parliament. Alongside him the Times reports we have

Tom Wise, the former UKIP MEP who faces trial for fraud and money-laundering related to his expenses, has a pension valued at £235,000 and will get a £32,382 transitional payment.

Another jolly into crime paying as long as it's in Europe.

Another (now former) UKIP member Ashley Mote who was jailed for six months has according to the Times

a pension worth £174,968 and will receive a transitional payment of £32,382

Not bad for spending much of his time lazing away inside one of our prisons.

In all British MEP's will share over £20 million in the European payout, true value for money. Unfortunately this may be the tip of the iceberg as in a previous story the Times highlighted that the

generous second pension scheme enjoyed by Members of the European Parliament is likely to be bailed out by the taxpayer after falling stock markets left it with a deficit of €120 million (£105 million).

The best bit is of course the fact that these amounts are for their "second" pensions over and above the standard pension.British MEPs already receive a main pension, which is the same as that for MPs at Westminster. This is worth up to two thirds of their £63,291 salary, depending on length of service.

This "second" pension is, and I loved this bit, paid from a 1/3 deduction from MEP's Ofiice Expenses. This allowance was about £45,000 per annum. The rest was paid for by the EU (Meaning us). MEPs are supposed to reimburse this account but there are no checks and it is accepted widely that many do not repay the money, potentially making the pension an entirely taxpayer-funded perk.

Yet another scandal that is so typical of the wastefulness that characterises the EU.

When you vote on Thursday vote Conservative and let this country have the referendum we were promised by the two other main parties in the UK.


Shamed MEPs take share of £20m payout - Times Online

Polly no longer thinks Gordon is the savior

Polly has obviously lost all hope in Gordon Brown now

Even after that calamity, at Tuesday's political cabinet, with blood already on the highway, the prime minister's indecision was terminal and fatal. I am told a leading cabinet minister gave him a strong and detailed expenses reform plan, with a script for presenting it. But it sat on his desk for many days. He couldn't make up his mind, he was "reflecting" on it. Since nothing is proposed to cabinet without Brown's prior support, the plan was never presented, the discussion was diffuse and nothing was resolved. But when Cameron announced his press conference for a few hours later, it was plain he had a plan of his own. So Harriet Harman was sent out in a hurry to present a plan the cabinet hadn't discussed. Cameron triumphed: it hardly mattered what he said or if his plan made sense – it too may unravel – when he showed himself forcefully decisive in a crisis and his words answered the wrathful spirit of the times: "Politicians have done things that are unethical and wrong. I don't care if they were within the rules – they were wrong." Compare and contrast that with Gordon Brown days later: "Where there is irregularity it has to be dealt with." For two weeks Chief Whip Nick Brown – and therefore Gordon Brown – knew what Elliot Morley had done because he told them, but no action was taken. That's what happens in a bunker under siege where dwindling trusted advisers lose touch with the daylight world outside.

Only Alan Johnson can prevent Labour catastrophe | Polly Toynbee | Comment is free | The Guardian

More Brownies from Gordon on Expenses

Watch this video at about 2:45 mins in when Toenails skewers Brown on when he actually dreamt up his plan.

As the BBC reports this is yet another Brownie by our dear Leader. The BBC report has this to say

Asked if he had been forced into a response by Mr Cameron, Mr Brown told the BBC: "I have been discussing this for days and we have been looking at this matter for some time. We had hoped to make some progress yesterday and now all parties are prepared to accept this."

But two senior MPs told the BBC he was "misrepresenting" what had been agreed by the committee.

They said the committee only agreed to examine the idea of an independent audit, that there was no "firm or final agreement" and would meet again on Wednesday after seeking advice on whether it was possible.

Even on an important point as MP's expenses Gordon just can't stick to the truth. Why should we trust him on anything. This whole interview is yet agian a car-crash as Gordon tries to grab all the kudos for sorting out a problem when in fact he has yet again been the problem.

BBC NEWS | Politics | All MPs' claims to be scrutinised

Squirming Brown

Channel 4 have a good? interview with Gordon Brown who seems to be struggling to separate fact from fiction. The man is in Fantasy Land!

Now it's Humiliation for Gordon Brown

Gordon will again be turning into Macavity the Cat this weekend as he retires to his bunker to lick his wounds after a truly appalling week of embarrassments and humiliations.

The latest humiliation is that his grand expenses plan has been dumped without a fight and chaos now reigns over what will happen. Paul Waugh has this in the Evening Standard.

***Harman waves white flag on MPs' exes***

The Commons Leader has just said that she accepts in full the George Young amendment. A real humiliation for the Government whips, it seems. Can Gordon's authority be so low that he can't even get his backbenchers to vote for his resolution?

UPDATE: Total fiasco. Hattie's retreat means she wants to leave the issue of per diem allowance upto Sir Christopher Kelly. But she wants MPs to vote on the remaining issues such as the London allowance etc - pre-empting the Kelly review.

Sir George pointed out the logical inconsistency of her position.

Alan Duncan rightly said Harman's move turns a climbdown into chaos.

I note that there is not a single Cabinet minister on the front bench alongside her.

So Gordon doesn't even turn up to apologise for his plan, just leaves poor old Harperson out to dry. The courage of the ban you would think he was a big feartie.

More later I'm sure

Paul Waugh | Blogs | Evening Standard

Revealed: MSPs' dubious claims

As usual we find those pretend politicians at the Scottish Parliament are trying to dig their snouts even deeper into the trough of our money.

Greg Gibbs, campaign director of the Taxpayers' Alliance, said he was astounded that MSPs were trying to get away with such frivolous and dubious claims.

He said:

"This is a classic case of MSPs not treating taxpayers' money as our money. As far as they see it, it is their money."

Also have a look here for even more stories.

Scotsman.com News - Scotland - Revealed: MSPs' dubious claims