Appeared on BBC’s Politics Show this lunchtime and was, inevitably, asked about the resignation of David Laws.
Certain sections of the media are trying to spin the line that this was a homophobic witch-hunt, but it was nothing of the sort. The allegation against David Laws is that he diverted expenses to his partner in contravention of Parliamentary rules. This would have been a serious matter whether the partner were male or female. Laws has decided, correctly, that his continuance as Chief Secretary is impossible, given the nature of the allegation.
It may well be, of course, that David Laws is wholly exonerated by the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner, to whom, quite properly, he has referred himself. In that case, as David Cameron has made clear, there may be a future role for him in government.
I hope so. In the short time that he was at the Treasury, David Laws showed that he has a great deal to offer public life in Britain.
I agree with you totally David. He has so much to offer and it’s a very sad situation indeed.
On my blog interestingly only 57% of readers feel it was the right thing for David Laws MP to resign from government. In my opinion, he broke parliamentary expenses rules and therefore did the right thing be going. I do however agree that I don’t think this is the last of David Laws, he is a too bigger asset to loose and I think he will be back in government when Cameron has his first re-shuffle.
Check out the poll on my blog here – http://robgreenhalgh.wordpress.com/
Congrats on your appointment to the Wales Office, shame about David Laws.
A very good rep who visits me has to travel around the country a lot and stay away from home a couple of nights a week, he has a very strict budget on how much he can spend and a fixed food allowance, both far far less than you MP’s get, what is the difference between him and you David?
Perhaps it is time you were all given a fixed allowance of a hundred pounds per night up to a maximum of 4 nights a week when Parliament sits?
Only an idea.
I’m sorry, but that’s just nonsense.
Election as an MP is one of the highest honours you can possibly have. And while MPs are our servants, they also represent us in every sense of the word. And I don’t want someone who represents us as a nation being treated as the equivalent of a sales rep. No offence to sales reps, but they’re paid to sell things, not to run the country.
While I can’t condone the funding of duck houses or dry rot treatment at taxpayers’ expense, nor do I want or expect them to live in some sort of hair-shirted, dreary, holier-than-thou existence while they are in London.
They should be entitled to a decent standard of living while they are there and yes, if they make a profit on the homes they have to buy at our expense that should go back to the Treasury when they leave office.
The job should attract the brightest and the best from society. If you treat them like third-rate sales reps trogging up and down the M40, then that’s what you will get making our laws.
I don’t want that and anyone who does has a strange idea of democracy.
I too am very sorry to see David Laws go and I hope he has the courage to carry on with politics and that he will return to the Cabinet in the future.
There must be clear rules about expenses, but this media fixation on bringing down good MPs that would have been instrumental in reviving our economy, will have an impact on all those who are considering entering political life.
We are all human and to expect our MPs to be utterly flawless is unreasonable, unless we all want to be governed by dull, grey men who have never experienced life beyond the mediocre.
“Election as an MP is one of the highest honours you can possibly have. And while MPs are our servants, they also represent us in every sense of the word. ”
Which surely is why they all should be beyond reproach?
To command respect, one has to earn it.
You must be joking Mr Banks or seriously grovelling to think that all MP’s are in the bracket you place them?
Some are, many are not.
I never seem to remember you having much time for them before you had the silver bullet from Trinity Mirror, why the change now?
It’s ok to feel some degree of compassion to a man who has done the honourable thing when the story broke.
This is in stark contrast to others in the last Government who sought to ride out the storm in post in deplorable form.
If as it appears, Mr Laws did something which he should not have done then that is the issue. He is in a high office, an MP; he, or others like him, helped make the rules and things should always look correct when viewed from the perspective
of the public.
To err is human, to forgive devine. He has done the right thing, let’s move on. The press and other pundits will however be watching everyone in Government so let us not be drip fed problems.
People in high office should be squeaky clean, so let’s get internally polishing our cabinet now, before any other possible story breaks.
I agree. There is far more important business to be reported upon than highlighting the mistakes of M.P.s involving the comparatively petty amounts claimed, perhaps unwisely, by M.P.s. The country is in default by billions, thanks to the mistakes of our previous dear leader, Gordon and his gang. We are being fed tittle tattle to sell papers, made more seductive because of this man’s sexuality.
By all means Law’s expenses should be questioned, but for heavens sake this trifling lapse doesn’t deserve the acres of print devoted to it. Let’s get our priorities right, The mess left by New Labour and the means of clearing it up deserve the spotlight now. There’s real work to be done; let’s get on with it.
Prasit, the expense scandal broke long after I’d had the “silver bullet” (more like tin actually) from TM.
As I said, I don’t agree with abuse like a duck house, but I don’t expect them to live some sort of ascetic lifestyle just to satisfy the demands of those influenced too much by a media agenda.
And let’s remember, the expense scandal was a matter of a few million in total, at most.
It unfortunately drew attention away from the real crooks who have fleeced every single household in this country for thousands – the bankers.
David Banks says the expense scandal was a matter of a few million in total at most and alongside the bankers it fades into insignificance.
The matter that we should always consider is trust and the abuse of it.
We expect our Members of Parliament to be paid properly. If however an MP ignores or bends the rules on expenses then it is wrong and has in some cases been judged to be possibly criminal.
We want people who abuse the Welfare System to be tackled and brought to book. Often those people need the money. Whether you are at the top of the earnings scale or the bottom, you should not take something that you are not entitled to.
So our MPs should be paid well; however David Banks, let us not make a distinction between levels of abuse of the system. Bankers, MPs or claimants on the dole should only claim what they are entitled to. Of course entitlement is something that has been talked about ad nauseum, ie “it was within the rules”
In the case of the bankers, their bonus culture should be seen to be reasonable, as it is our money that they are playing with.
Well let us now change the rules for the better and move on.
What David Curtis says is of course right. Everyone should toe the line and David Cameron’s “responsibility” word should be required at all levels. However, the acerage of press coverage is out of proportion to the offence. Whilst everyone is pontificating and delivering judgement on these people, the major problems are being ignored.
Deal with them quickly, get it over with, and let those in control get on with the real, multi billion problems caused by New Labour. Energy must not be diverted from the main task ahead.
No doubt David is busy in his new role, hence the dearth of blogs. However, don’t let’s lose interest. The other David, of the Prime Minister type, has just announced the hardships ahead for us all. No doubt, after the budget there will be howls of anguish from everyone (including me I suspect) . One envisages the whining “yeah, but not me, what about them?”
Let’s hope that this interesting word, “responsibility” is kept on the mantlepiece, polished, and used frequently rather than being buried in the torrents of useless, meaningless words often used by polititians to numb minds and make us forget the real problem, and often the real solution.
We’re all affected, and we all have a responsibility to clear up the mess left by New Labour. H.I.P.s hopefully is just the start. Is it generally known for example that the taxpayer funds walks in the countryside organized by most councils? Are we really so short on responsibility that we cannot do this for ourselves, but require the state to do so ? People attending these events are those who would organize walks themselves in any case.
I must go now. I’m attending a Council run seminar on teeth cleaning and hair combing. It would be taking responsibilty TOO far if despicable David axed this one though.
ODE TO A LAND WITHOUT LAWS
Of Laws what is writ?
The hubris of a banker
preaching public thrift?
What of the watchman
o’er the nation’s treasure
who took from the hoard
to steal private pleasure?
Fools may proclaim
a Kingdom ingrate
to waste the wits
of this Man of State.
Yet far better gone is he
who took his duties light
to fritter our wealth
on another sodomite.