MPs Expenses (continued)

Well my quest for an honest MP has had a result. Yes folks that was a singular result because I only found ONE MP who is watching what he spends. All the rest think nothing of spending a six figure sum on personal expenses! Can you imagine in real life claiming £100,000 a year in expenses?

So let us applaud PHILIP HOLLOBINE MP for Kettering who kept his expenses down to £47737. That still seems quite a lot but the next best claimant weighed in with £74522 and that was Michael Martin from Glasgow North East. Who - I hear you shout not THAT Mr Martin from Glasgow. Yes the former Speaker did not have his snout very deep in the trough at all.

Only three others claimed less than ninety grand RICHARD TAYLOR Independent (Wyre Forest), ALAN WILLIAMS (Swansea West) and NICK WINTERTON. The vast majority hovered ten grand either side of £150,000 and I reserve special mention for Eric Joyce of Falkirk who weighed in at No 1 trougher with a annual expense claim of £187,334!!

The most significant expense was the staffing allowance where most claimed £80/90000! The staffing allowance in the past five years has almost doubled for most MPs and most of them seem to have followed along like sheep. So if for instance 645 MPs are claiming an average of let's say £80000 for staff that is a fair old wedge (my calculator reckons £51,600,000). Yes in plain terms they are spending over £50 million of our money on staff!! All except Mr Hollobine who does his own work and only claimed £400.

It makes you proud to be British.