"It is vital that we rebuild trust in our political system." Yes, David Laws should resign as MP for Yeovil!

During the height of the expenses row Chris Huhne, the Lib Dems Home Affairs spokesman, was puffing with indignation at the greedy expenses claims by his fellow MPs. "If the reports are in all cases correct, then there clearly are instances where MPs have lost contact with the difference between right and wrong," he told the BBC. "I think we need to make sure we're saying that loud and clear because, frankly, the voters are not going to be at all sympathetic if we don't." Days later it emerged that Huhne claimed for a £119 trouser press that was delivered to his main home rather than his designated second address. He agreed to pay back the money. He also claimed for fluffy dusters and the upkeep of his “pergola cross beam”.

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/damianthompson/100041474/david-laws-an...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/election-2010/7611295/MPs-expenses-Nick-...

Nick Clegg was challenged over his dedication to cleaning up politics by Andrew Neil, the BBC presenter and former newspaper editor, who listed claims he made under the second home allowance at his property in Sheffield.

In total he claimed £83,824 between 2005 and 2009, including £1,018 in monthly mortgage interest payments; £9,244 in legal costs and stamp duty; £2,600 on a new kitchen; and £5,857 on decorating.

Mr Clegg also bought Ikea cushions, napkins and a cake pan, and also spent £850 on curtains and blinds.
He regularly paid a gardener £160 a month, with his tasks including “pruning of apple and plum trees”, and maintenance of the rose garden.

After The Daily Telegraph disclosed his claims last year, Mr Clegg repaid £80.20 he had claimed for personal telephone calls to Colombia, Vietnam and Belgium in an “innocent mistake”.
He was later ordered to repay £910 by Sir Thomas Legg for gardening costs.

Mr Clegg told Mr Neil: “As it happens, it was a home - and you are more than welcome to come and visit it, Andrew, if you like - it’s a modest semi-detached home.
“It was in a state of complete disrepair, the garden was a complete eyesore, it hadn’t been touched for ages. You make it sound like some great palatial residence.
“I need to keep it in basic working order, I needed to make sure that the garden wasn’t a complete eyesore and I did that but with money that is made available to me as an MP so that I can live and work in two places. But, crucially, it’s not my home, it’s yours, it’s the taxpayers’.”

Asked if that meant the public could stay in it for free, Mr Clegg replied: “I know there’s new politics, but there’s a limit.”
He said he did not know whether he would allow Mr Neil to “rest on my cushions”.
Mr Clegg insisted: “Any gain on it when I sell it, which I will do very soon ... after the election will go straight back to the taxpayer.”

Former Lib Dem leader, Lord Ashdown, said the revelations were a "personal tragedy" for Mr Laws, describing him as "Mr Integrity".

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/martin_ivens/article...

March 2010 "The Times"

"One shouldn’t underestimate how far the Lib Dems have already travelled. “I can remember when half the parliamentary party was mad and our leader was on trial at the Old Bailey,” sighs one old Liberal hand recalling the 1970s when Jeremy Thorpe’s entanglement with a former male model led to the bizarre shooting of a dog on Exmoor. “In the opinion polls we were once zero, within the margins of statistical error,” he adds with a chuckle."

I wonder whether Cameron would have ever got involved with Clegg, if he had been old enough to remember Jeremy Thorpe and the Liberal Party. Unfortunately, Cameron was not old enough to understand what was going on in the 1970's.

Why has my post been censored?
Feels like I'm in the old East Germany or perhaps modern day China?

Hi Jon,
What did you write?

Responding to Mr Laws' resignation letter, Prime Minister David Cameron said he was an "honourable man", adding: "I hope that, in time, you will be able to serve again."

On arrival at the Treasury, David Laws was apparently offered a pot plant, which he declined. He then asked how much the Treasury spends on such vegetation – and, when he found out, made an immediate cut with his fiscal secateurs.

The Daily Telegraph:
Most people would consider that after almost a decade living together, Mr Laws and Mr Lundie are a couple.
Although they don’t share bank accounts – like many modern couples – Mr Laws even increased the mortgage on his own property in Somerset to help Mr Lundie buy his new home for more than half a million pounds in London.
Q What does the law say about their relationship?
While Mr Laws and Mr Lundie were not in a civil partnership – which gives homosexual couples the same legal rights as married couples – the fact they were living together still gives them certain rights, according to Citizens Advice Bureau guidance.
In theory, says the CAB, Mr Laws could even claim a financial interest in Mr Lundie’s property should they split up because of his contributions to the mortgage.
Legally, there is no difference between a straight couple and a gay couple living together whose relationship has not been formalised.

After less than three weeks as PM, it does appear that David Cameron has become slightly confused. He says that Davis Laws is an "honourable man". He has misappropriated 40,000 quid from the taxpayer and Cameron has the chutzpah to state that Laws is "honourable"!

And since The Lib Dems have adopted a "holier than thou" approach to expenses and corruption, David Laws should do the decent thing and resign as MP for Yeovil.

"It is depressing beyond belief that a man with David Laws’ talent has been driven out of public life. His breaking of the rule on expenses was motivated not by venality but by a desire to keep his personal life private." (James Forsyth in The Spectator)

The above is total nonsense. Why the hell did David Laws have to make an expenses claim which helped to pay his boyfriend's mortgage? Was he forced to do so? If he hadn't, would Laws have been "outed"?

BD, you do realise that talking to yourself is one of the first signs of madness?

BA,

But is there method in my madness?