Reach for your chequebooks

Constantly Furious (@constantfury) - LPUK Posted by Constantly Furious (@constantfury) - LPUK
Thursday, 4th February 2010

It may, at last, be payback time for some of our troughing MP's, when Sir Thomas Legg finally publishes his report.

Don't hold your breath though. Sir Thomas sent out letters to MPs in October last year- more than 4 months ago - detailing his requests for repayment, and still these troughers continue to wriggle.

More than half of MP's have already been told that they should pay large sums of money, that they effectively stole, back to us. The stories, and the ever-changing numbers, have been published so many times that we could all be forgiven for having grown utterly bored of the whole thing, and completely lost track of exactly who owes what, and who it is who's going to pay anything back.

We all know that Jacqui Smith, one of the most egregious troughers of the lot, has already been told she won't have to pay back the tens of thousands of taxpayers cash that she scooped up. Great to have friends in high places, isn't it? That should make your coming richly-deserved and lengthy unemployment easier to bear, eh?

And her fellow MP's are squirming and squealing frantically too. More than 70 MP's have decided that they, like Jacqui, should be able to keep their trotters on the money we gave them, and have appealed against Sir Tom's ruling.

Because if there's one thing everyone in Westminster agrees upon, it's that none of this is the MP's fault. Oh no.

According to the inevitable leaks to the BBC, Sir Tom will criticise a "culture of deference" which made it "difficult for officials to query or challenge their [MP's] claims."

In other words, our beloved 646, to ensure the continued flow of unearned cash into their coffers, fell back on one of the oldest tricks in the fraudsters' book: the 'do you know who I am' bluster.

If some upstart official tries to tell you that you can't have thousands of pounds to give to your sister, or to sort out your tennis court, draw yourself up to your full height, and - raising your voice - let them know just how important and entitled you are.

And now, now it's payback time, they're not going to come quietly. They're appealing, and protesting and pontificating. Not one of them is going to hand over a penny unless they're made to.

Apparently, according to Auntie Beeb:

"Gordon Brown urged MPs to pay up and said he would consider withdrawing the whip from those Labour MPs who did not."

Really? Wow. That must have the Labour troughers trembling in their taxpayer-funded Gucci loafers.

A man they despise, a man they won't be working for in a few weeks time, is 'urging' them to hand over shitloads of what they consider to be their cash?

And if they don't? Well, if they don't, a party that will no longer be in Government in a few weeks time, a party that by 2015 will only be known to students studying politics, is going to 'consider' withdrawing the whip? Well, boo hoo.

If CF had the choice between coughing up thousands and receiving a weak slap on the wrist, he'd be holding out his hand in eager anticipation.

Clearly, it's not just the scapegoat expenses officials who show a 'culture of deference', eh? 

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