"Stop the sleaze" demands Senior Citizens party
07/02/2008
The Senior Citizens Party has roundly condemned the so-called "Sleaze Committee" (also known as the Members' Estimates Committee) as "asking poachers to investigate gamekeepers".
They says that, instead of the Party Leaders nominating members who are squeaky clean, The Speaker Michael Martin (Labour) who chairs the House of Commons Commission, personally picked the members with the approval of Gordon Brown. The SCP says that the Commission spent two years and more than £17,000 of taxpayers' money trying to conceal MPs' car, train and plane claims after Information Commissioner, Richard Thomas, ruled that taxpayers had a right to know how much public money was being spent on politicians' travel,
Michael Martin, says the SCP, has not only himself helped to block the release of detailed records about expenses, but has personally claimed more than £75,000 for overnight stays away from his main residence, £13,925 in travel expenses last year, including £10,587 on air fares. His wife has claimed £23,885 in four years.
They point to the record of Committee Member David Maclean (Conservative), "who once used £3,300 of Commons money to buy a quad bike and led an MPs' campaign to have Parliament exempted from the Freedom of Information Act.
"Sir Stuart Bell (Labour) employs his wife at a cost to the taxpayers of £35,000 a year and faced embarrassment in 2001 when his son, Malcolm, was jailed for theft and forgery after stealing cheques from another MP's office while working as a researcher. Leader of the Commons Harriet Harman (Labour) was recently embroiled in the 'dodgy donations' scandal, after it emerged that she received £5,000 from tycoon David Abraham, paid using a middleman to keep his identity under wraps.
"Nick Harvey (LibDem) is paid between between £5,000 and £10,000 as '"Communications Strategy Consultant" to Trimedia Harrison Cowley, a media research agency, whose clients include the Milk Development Council and Land Rover."
Theresa May (Conservative), they say, is the only member who has not been implicated in concern over her financial affairs.
Party Leader of the Senior Citizens Party, Grahame Leon-Smith said: "How is it possible that the three main party leaders, who presumably want to get rid of this sleaze and restore "Open Government", have approved this Committee in which the public cannot have any trust whatsoever ? It would have been better to appoint independent members of the House of Lords to carry out this task."