What is the first serious Labour scandal gonna be?

[Silas Loom]

I think expenses could be an issue.

Just looking at Angela Raynor ..



So her salary was £81,900 and her expenses were £191,200 making a total cost of £273,100

If they all (all MPs) behaved like that, there are 650 MPs. 650 x 273,100 makes £177,515,000.00

That is one hundred and seventy seven million, five hundred and fifteen thousand pounds!

How much do you think should be spent on staffing MPs’ offices so that they can deal with constituent questions? Should they be expected to fund constituency and Westminster accommodation privately?

Why does that £177m number shock you? What do you mean by “behaved like that”?

 

[Kevbad the Bad]

I think there is a very high probability that loads of Labour M.P.'s will be found guilty in the court of public opinion of the heinous crime of re-tweeting comments made by e.g. Jeremy Corbyn which have subsequently been liked by neo-Nazis. They will automatically be sacked by Starmer. Jeremy Corbyn is beyond the pale.

 

[Karl Masks]

Bringing back Alan fucking Milburn.

Oh, that already happened

 

[weltweit]

How much do you think should be spent on staffing MPs’ offices so that they can deal with constituent questions? Should they be expected to fund constituency and Westminster accommodation privately?

The salaries figure just seems high to me, I wonder how many staff a constituency office normally has? And how much they are normally paid? And that is not to mention the 80k that Angela is paid herself. I notice while junior doctors have seen their pay stalled for many years MPs have had increase after increase. That is pretty sickening. One rule for them, another for the rest of us.

 

[Silas Loom]

The salaries figure just seems high to me, I wonder how many staff a constituency office normally has? And how much they are normally paid? And that is not to mention the 80k that Angela is paid herself. I notice while junior doctors have seen their pay stalled for many years MPs have had increase after increase. That is pretty sickening. One rule for them, another for the rest of us.

MP salary increases are tied to public sector pay increments, they’ve lagged behind inflation in exactly the same way that pay for doctors has. That rule was formulated to forestall exactly the kind of Daily Mail nonsense you’re promulgating here, which essentially is an attack on MPs without other sources of income being able to do the job properly.

 

[weltweit]

MP salary increases are tied to public sector pay increments, they’ve lagged behind inflation in exactly the same way that pay for doctors has. That rule was formulated to forestall exactly the kind of Daily Mail nonsense you’re promulgating here, which essentially is an attack on MPs without other sources of income being able to do the job properly.

Rather than carry on with your derail.

Perhaps you can explain the reasonable compliment of an MPs constituency office?

 

[Silas Loom]

Rather than carry on with your derail.

Perhaps you can explain the reasonable compliment of an MPs constituency office?

“Good morning, constituency office. I do like your new signage!”

 

[JimW]

The salaries figure just seems high to me, I wonder how many staff a constituency office normally has? And how much they are normally paid? And that is not to mention the 80k that Angela is paid herself. I notice while junior doctors have seen their pay stalled for many years MPs have had increase after increase. That is pretty sickening. One rule for them, another for the rest of us.

It's all right, they usually economise by hiring their spouses.

 

[farmerbarleymow]

I think expenses could be an issue.

Just looking at Angela Raynor ..



So her salary was £81,900 and her expenses were £191,200 making a total cost of £273,100

If they all (all MPs) behaved like that, there are 650 MPs. 650 x 273,100 makes £177,515,000.00

That is one hundred and seventy seven million, five hundred and fifteen thousand pounds!

Discounting staff and office costs, £36k isn't too bad overall. No idea how much it costs to rent accommodation in central London, but guess it must be fairly steep, though £30k seems a fair whack unless it comprises hotel costs too. £5.7k for travel isn't much at all given her constituency is about 200 miles from London - surprised it isn't more given the cost of train fares.

 

[JimW]

I was going to suggest the new MP for Leicester East givn that they had Claudia Webhe and Keith Vaz in recent succession and both were running against Labour on Thursday. However, Labour lost the seat to the Tories.

Neil Coyle will inevitably cause another scandal, which will lead to a recall petition resulting in Peter Tatchell becoming the 73 Liberal Democrat MP.

I'd forgotten about Barry Gardiner who took £500,000 from the Chinese is a supporter of Modi.

Gardiner and Gujarat: how a "left" Labour MP defended genocide

I hope readers were sad to be reminded, or shocked to learn, of the vicious anti-Muslim pogroms in Gujarat in 2002 (Solidarity 626). There is a supplementary fact, connected to the UK, that is also shocking (in a more minor key).

www.workersliberty.org

Fawn, fawn; lick, lick:


Absolute shameless shittery.



He was in Russia when he made the broadcast above, presumably sorting out his son's spell playing for FC Zenit St. Petersburg.

Zenith signed Jacob Gabriel Gardiner-Smith son of British politician

FC Zenit St.Petersburg signed a contract with Britain's Jacob Gabriel Gardiner-Smith. A transfer of the 19-year-old half back immediately attracted huge attention due to three intriguing points

guidetopetersburg.com

This seems unfair, Gardiner junior has now moved to prestigious Hungerford Town, so Zenit were only right to give him a go.

 

[farmerbarleymow]

By the way weltweit, the cost of a 5-day per week season ticket from Manchester to London is £19,656. So six grand on train travel is very restrained if it covers a full year. It makes sense for MPs in constituencies distant from London to rent accommodation there, rather than travel each day - the round trip from Manchester to London for example is about 5 hours (excluding travel within London) and that just wouldn't be sustainable long-term.

 

[8ball]

I think expenses could be an issue.

Just looking at Angela Raynor ..



So her salary was £81,900 and her expenses were £191,200 making a total cost of £273,100

If they all (all MPs) behaved like that, there are 650 MPs. 650 x 273,100 makes £177,515,000.00

That is one hundred and seventy seven million, five hundred and fifteen thousand pounds!

Chicken feed compared to my outgoing MP (dubbed “Britain’s most expensive MP”’ on various occasions).

Also, I’d wager that Rayner actually does something for her constituents.

 

[Wolveryeti]

They have too many MPs to give ministerial positions to all of them, so my guess is the more ambitious overlooked ones will get bored and start philandering and/or go on the take.

 

[Jennaonthebeach]

The cost effective thing to do would be for us to build or buy/refurbish accomodation for MPs to use - it could be made fit for purpose, and not too luxurious, nor too spartan, within easy travel distance to parliament, and properly managed, transparent finances, all essential services, eg internet, provided, and any rent charged can be minimal and standard, just to cover actual costs. For the tax payer it's a property investment and it should save us a fair wack every year in MPs expenses.

 

[8ball]

The cost effective thing to do would be for us to build or buy/refurbish accomodation for MPs to use - it could be made fit for purpose, and not too luxurious, nor too spartan, within easy travel distance to parliament, and properly managed, transparent finances, all essential services, eg internet, provided, and any rent charged can be minimal and standard, just to cover actual costs. For the tax payer it's a property investment and it should save us a fair wack every year in MPs expenses.

Agree totally.

Won’t happen.

 

[Jennaonthebeach]

Meanwhile they're scraping the barrel trying to save pennies by cutting welfare, cutting the NHS, cutting essential local services. No wonder mps are generally hated these days.

 

[SpookyFrank]

I think expenses could be an issue.

Just looking at Angela Raynor ..



So her salary was £81,900 and her expenses were £191,200 making a total cost of £273,100

If they all (all MPs) behaved like that, there are 650 MPs. 650 x 273,100 makes £177,515,000.00

That is one hundred and seventy seven million, five hundred and fifteen thousand pounds!

30,000 p/a in rent just about gets you a modest two bedroom house in a crappy part of London if you're lucky.

 

[Spymaster]

30,000 p/a in rent just about gets you a modest two bedroom house in a crappy part of London if you're lucky.

Nonsense.

 

[tim]

It makes sense for MPs in constituencies distant from London to rent accommodation there, rather than travel each day - the round trip from Manchester to London for example is about 5 hours (excluding travel within London) and that just wouldn't be sustainable long-term.

Yes, the aforementioned Barry Gardiner used to claim for mortgage payments on a house in Chorleywood where he could spend the night when he found the strain of commuting from Brent to Westminster on the Jubilee line too taxing.

MP attacked over expenses

A Government minister is benefiting from Commons rules by buying a second home with help from taxpayers. Labour MP Barry Gardiner is taking advantage of a housing allowance for out-of-town MPs even though his seat is in London.

www.standard.co.uk

 

[Lord Camomile]

I mean most of the shit on him is already a matter of public record and yet there he fucking is just the same.

This is very true, and it was a bit tongue in cheek. I'm sure he'll get away with a bunch of other shite while in office too.

That said, that office also comes with more scrutiny and (nominally) more restrictive notions of what is 'acceptable', alongside more opportunities to do shady shite and increased feelings of entitlement.

So while he may get away with a lot of it, he just sounds like the type of character whose quite likely to fall foul of something eventually.

 

[frogwoman]

This is very true, and it was a bit tongue in cheek. I'm sure he'll get away with a bunch of other shite while in office too.

That said, that office also comes with more scrutiny and (nominally) more restrictive notions of what is 'acceptable', alongside more opportunities to do shady shite and increased feelings of entitlement.

So while he may get away with a lot of it, he just sounds like the type of character whose quite likely to fall foul of something eventually.

Has he been put in charge of anything?

Gotta say I'm surprised this guy got past Labour's allegedly stringent vetting procedures

Graham Stringer - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Jennaonthebeach]

This dude might be a contender

 

[andysays]

Interesting to note that Starmer has appointed two ministers who already have significant scandals to their names, although their careers don't seem to have suffered any serious set backs as a result

Starmer appoints two figures from Blair and Brown era as ministers​

Ms Smith - who is not an MP - will get a life peerage in order to re-enter government. She returns as education minister, a brief she had previously held 25 years ago, under Tony Blair. She went on to hold several ministerial roles, before rising to be the first female home secretary. She resigned in 2009 due to a series of expenses scandals. The Standards Commissioner found she breached Commons rules by designating her sister's London house as her main residence and claiming expenses on her Redditch home. Ms Smith also admitted to mistakenly claiming expenses for two pornographic films viewed by her husband while she was away. Media reports revealed she had also claimed a flat-screen TV and scatter cushions on expenses. She stepped down, blaming family pressures and claiming gender bias in the scrutiny of her expenses. After losing her seat to Karen Lumley of the Conservative Party in the 2010 election Ms Smith competed on Strictly Come Dancing and co-hosted a political podcast with Conservative broadcaster Iain Dale. She previously chaired the University Hospitals Birmingham trust and since 2021 has been chair of Barts health trust in London - two of the NHS’s biggest care providers.

After helping co-ordinate Labour's successful election campaign in 2001, Mr Alexander was made a junior minister in Mr Blair's government, serving in various roles before being made both transport secretary and Scottish secretary in 2006. While an MP he repaid more than £12,000 he had claimed from Parliament during the expenses scandal. While serving as shadow foreign secretary, Mr Alexander was defeated by the SNP's Mhairi Black at the 2015 general election, overturning his 16,000-vote majority. After leaving parliament he joined Harvard and New York University as a professor and became an adviser to U2 front man Bono. Mr Alexander chaired Unicef UK but resigned in 2020 following bullying allegations that he was later cleared of.

 

[Ranbay]

Where's the cocktail on the tube option?!?!??!?!

 

[Gromit]

Someone will claim pickled onion monster munch are better than roast beef monster munch.

 

[Gromit]

Daily Mail​

Labour MP's library fine shame.

It has been revealed that a Labour MP has library fines of under a million pounds (£1.27) stretching back over 170 hours.

 

[farmerbarleymow]

Someone will claim pickled onion monster munch are better than roast beef monster munch.

They would of course be absolutely right. Pickled onion flavour are by far the best ones.

 

[Jennaonthebeach]

They would of course be absolutely right. Pickled onion flavour are by far the best ones.

The recipe changed at some point and they are completely fucked now. I prefer Space Raiders.

 

[farmerbarleymow]

The cost effective thing to do would be for us to build or buy/refurbish accomodation for MPs to use - it could be made fit for purpose, and not too luxurious, nor too spartan, within easy travel distance to parliament, and properly managed, transparent finances, all essential services, eg internet, provided, and any rent charged can be minimal and standard, just to cover actual costs. For the tax payer it's a property investment and it should save us a fair wack every year in MPs expenses.

They should relocate Parliament to somewhere cheaper, perhaps Skelmersdale, and build a tower block for all the MPs to live there while on duty.

 

[Jennaonthebeach]

They should relocate Parliament to somewhere cheaper, perhaps Skelmersdale, and build a tower block for all the MPs to live there while on duty.

Somewhere rural to cut out distractions I reckon.

And then put a clock on the door to make sure all of them work minimum hours - in the office - none of this working from home nonsense.