Politicians should follow the lead of Zac Goldsmith MP
He may be independently wealthy but Zac Goldsmith is a Member of Parliament whose actions in not claiming a single penny in expenses should send a signal to other politicians.
Shocking examples of note from this year’s £98.1 million tally of Commons’ records of expenses and staffing costs, according to the Mail Online, number Conservative MPs Nadine Dorries – best known for skipping Parliament to enter I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! in 2012 – who claimed a combined total of upto £79,998 on top of her salary to employ her two daughters and Peter Bone whose wife received upto £49,999 as his office manager. Northern Irish DUP MP Ian Paisley, The Mirror reports, claimed a total of £232,042.33 and Liberal Democrat Malcolm Bruce’s total came to £201,308.30.
Two stories to keep beside you
Send him down
Stuart Hall’s sentencing must set an example to others Stuart Hall’s fall will be complete today when he is sentenced at Preston Crown Court in relation to 14 counts of indecent assault. A prison sentence is inevitable and it will be much deserved.
Back Zac
The Steeple Times backs Zac Goldsmith as the Conservative candidate to be Mayor of London
Meanwhile, elsewhere, a controversial blog named From the Hornets Nest reported yesterday that Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea Conservative councilor and non-executive director of Transport for London and Crossrail Daniel Moylan receives a total of £152,000 per year “in taxpayer generated income” on top of a further £42,000 per year of outside income as a non-executive director of several property trusts.
Prime Minister David Cameron promised to clean up the seedy world of politicians and their expenses after The Telegraph correctly exposed it for what it was. Thus far, he has failed. Zac Goldsmith should be sent in to clean up this mighty mess.
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Readers have their say
10 comments
Come on. Get real. MPs work hard and they need to be paid properly. I thought better of you Matthew. You should not jump on this bandwagon. Goldsmith, as you say, may be rich but others couldn’t be MPs unless their train and plane fares were paid. Seriously disappointed in you.
I thought Matthew rather restrained in his criticism of the crude and vulgar way MP’s screw us.
They have pensions we can only dream about and have the insolence to employ their families as highly paid support staff.
They don’t work particularly hard at the job they are elected to do. In fact, most are creaming it doing consultancy or non exec work.
I am glad Matthew bought up Daniel Moylan(not Boylan)
It is outrageous that he can support his lifestyle off the backs of taxpayers….especially when he has no
professional expertise. Keep up the good work and Harry GET REAL!
Pete: I apologise for my spelling error. From time to time these things happen.
Harry is plainly an aspiring MP. Enough said.
As someone who spent 15 years on the ‘road’, I too think one needs to be very careful on this issue. It costs a great deal to travel a lot and live away from home. Economies of scale do not exist and simple rents are astronomic.. As long as their expenses are monitored then I’ave no probalem. They also need at least two or three support staff and a constituency office.
I’ve been lucky enough to meet Zac Goldsmith two or three times in regard to a charity I chair in Richmond. He’s a delight and very supportive. A top man.
MP’s seem to find time to engage in other entrepreneurial enterprises. Nurses, Police, Prison Officers also have to travel far distances to their place of work. What about the rest of us? Think again.
Zac’s efforts are commendable, he feels the pain of ordinary people. The Goldsmith’s are at last getting the message.
Good to see that the http://fromthehornetsnest.blogspot.fr/ has paid tribute to Matthew and Steeples Times
Good to see the Hornets Nest has paid tribute to Matthew and the Steeples Times
link is here http://fromthehornetsnest.blogspot.fr/
link here http://fromthehornetsnest.blogspot.fr/