Battle Of Two Berks In Bucks

A battle of two berks is shaping up in Bucks with UKIP's Farage challenging Tory turn-coat speaker Bercow for the general election seat. Election battle lines are being drawn up. This contest is sure to put the cat amongst the pigeons.

The Telegraph today reveals commons speaker and token Tory Bercow is to be challenged at the election by UKIP leader Farage, still basking in his Euro MEP victory.

Farage's decision to stand raises all sorts of interesting issues. There won't be an official Conservative candidate so will Tories be allow to campaign and vote for Farage?

On top of that, commons convention has it that the other main parties do not put up candidates in a sitting speaker’s constituency. So put that in the New Labour and the LibDem pipe and smoke it.

The Orange Party has no time for patronising slimeball squeaker Bercow. But then little time for UKIP either.

But speaking about Bercow, the Orange Party will agree with Farage on one thing: “This man represents all that is wrong with British politics today. He was embroiled in the expenses saga and he presides over a Parliament that virtually does nothing."

The commons got a spiv for a speaker after discredited Martin was forced to quit in shame over the MPs’ expenses’ scandal. In like a flash stepped 'Tory' Bercow with the backing of a majority of New Labour MPs and to the irritation of Tories.

If Bercow does get his cumupance it would mean the joy of another commons election for a new speaker. Only this time the Tories would be in the speakers' driving seat.

In the MPs' expenses scandal, the Telegraph disclosed how Bercow flipped his designated second home claiming full whack on allowances. He later agreed to hand over £6,500 to the taxman after lawfully avoiding paying capital gains tax on buying and selling properties.

Farage is no stranger to allowances, heading a party propped up by £2m of public money from the European Parliament. But that's the Party not the back-pocket.

UKIP has a lot of support among Tories - and the Telegraph. Nevertheless Farage, faces an uphill task trying to win over one of the safest Tory seats in the country with a whopping 13,325 majority.

Bercow, Farage or the Monster Raving Loony Party? A tough call but the smart money's on Farage.

Read More...

Berk's Arrogance Laid Bare

The true colours of smug, arrogant squeaker Bercow has been vividly laid bare on YouTube in a contemptuous spat with ITV News' political editor, Tom Bradby.

Without doubt this is one of the most disgusting displays of pompous arrogance by a politician on camera the Orange Party has ever witnessed. Disgusting, discourteous and downright rude.

Bradby was clearly taken aback during the interview for yesterday's Evening News, asking questions any journalist worth his salt would have asked, not expecting such a nasty little put down from a nasty little man.

MPs stuck two fingers up to the electorate with the election of squeaker Bercow showing they don't give a toss about honest decent voters. Berk stuck two fingers up to Bradby and through him to the public.

The Orange Party has been at the sharp end of political interviews in the past and the sharp end of the tongue. Brady too, with Prezza and Brown spats under his belt. But never before has such appalling behaviour been played out in front of the camera. This is truly disgusting show of shameful showmanship.

New Labour cronies who voted in their government prop should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves.

Read More...

Who Guards The Expenses Guardians?

Parliamentary democracy is being torn to shreds in the dying days of a fag-end government with plans for an unelected quango to oversee MPs' expenses. At the heart lies the vexed question: who will guard the guardians in Brown's Big Brother House?

Once again the government has found a neat way of side-stepping responsibility and accountability for its shabby actions, at a stroke sweeping away centuries of constitutional tradition at the centre of our democratic process.

On the surface it all sounds so sensible. MPs can't be trusted, so set up an 'independent' body to keep them in check.

That in itself is a sad indictment of democracy. The checks and balances are already firmly in place. They are called voters who can see through the lies and deceit and boot out the crooks and spivs if only they were given the chance.

But without that election, parliament and democracy is being reduced to a sinister farce. Scratch away at the surface and a rotten underbelly is exposed, threatening the cornerstone of constitutional democracy and parliamentary sovereignty.

For the first time, parliament will have to play second fiddle to a bunch of faceless beaurocrats and cronies. In a complete reverse of the way this country is supposed to be governed, MPs will be answerable to unelected bureaucrats not the electorate.

Time and again when the government gets itself into a mess it digs itself into a deeper hole, wriggling around with another unaccountable and unelected quango to get itself off the hook.

Trust in parliament and MPs is at an all-time low. But proposals set out in the Harman Bill move the constitutional ship of state into unchartered waters. If in doubt, set up another quango. That is not the way to build trust.

As Oborne points out today, the Parliamentary Standards Bill takes this country into "untested constitutional waters, proposing nothing less than subjugating the centuries-old sovereignty of Parliament to an unelected quango."

And to add insult to injury: "This new Bill will be voted on by a House riddled with expenses cheats which has just elected a tax-dodger as Speaker."

The despicable true colours of this smug, vile, arrogant little man propped up by New Labour cronies were vividly laid bare last night in a contemptuous interview with ITV News' political editor, Tom Bradby. The most disgusting display of pompous arrogance by a politician the Orange Party has ever witnessed. In this country.

MPs stuck two fingers up to the electorate with the election of squeaker Bercow showing they don't give a toss about honest decent voters. Bercow stuck two fingers up to Bradby and through him the public.

The rot is set to continue.

The new Parliamentary Standards Bill will set up the “Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority” to administer MPs’ pay and allowances, as well as establishing a "Commissioner for Parliamentary Investigations" to probe alleged breaches of the rules.

But there's a rub in the Harman Bill. IPSA members and the commissioner will be approved by a 'Speaker’s Committee', at a stroke handing vast power over to a bunch of political elitists who are not accountable to the electorate.

Just how will these guardians be selected? How can voters be sure they will stay corruption-free?

An elected Parliament, warts and all, is at the heart of democracy. Parliament and its lawmakers are the highest court in the land. As Oborne observes: The Commons is set to be reduced to a farce. Parliamentary government, a national joke.

So who exactly guards the guardians? The answer comes back. No-one.

The Orange Party fears for the future of democracy which is paying the price for the government's stubborn refusal to hold a general election.

The answer isn't more rules and regulators. A 'root and branch' reform of the whole expenses system, clearly setting out who can claim for what, where and when would solve the problem for the future.

Procedures are already in place for a strict enforcement of the rules and laws already there to catch culprits. It didn't work in the past because those with a vested interest turned a blind eye to the scandalous abuse.

If all MPs expenses had been truly out in the open in the first place, the squalid expenses scandal would not have happened. No MP would want would any dirty washing hung out in public.

In a democracy, the electorate is the best regulator. Voters are quite capable of kicking out the crooks, the spivs and the chancers. They're chomping at the bit but denied the chance.

What is not needed is yet another unelected, unaccountable quango or committee. Only a general election can begin to restore public trust in politics and politicians. Some will fall by the wayside and that is exactly why one is not being called for the foreseeable future.

Thanks to the font of all expenses at the Telegraph, voters now have enough information to dig out the truth behind the lies and deceit of the self-serving servants of the public.

But without that election, voters will continue to be treated with contempt. Revenge is a dish best served out of a cold ballot box.

Read More...

A Spiv For A Speaker

Government MPs have smug grins on their faces after one of their kind was elected Speaker, despite flaunting his token Tory credentials. Unless there's a massive change of heart and conscience, the election of second homes flipping spiv, Bercow, will only inflame public mood as voters treat the whole squalid mess of an election charade with the contempt it deserves.

Quentin Letts over at the Mail gets it in one - They voted for someone who could be even worse than Gorbals Mick!

Born-again Bercow finally beat off a challenge from Tory toff Sir George Young after MPs voted with their feet to ignore government favourite Old Ma Beckett amid claims of a stitch-up by the whips.

Pointedly, the Conservatives were the only ones in the House not greeting the election of a New Labour ringer with rapturous applause. Cameron's welcome was decidedly lukewarm.

More comfortable sucking up New Labour than the Tories, despised Bercow's biggest problem now is that most of his own party hate him as he tries to square up to a bitterly divided House.

And that doesn't bode well for someone charged with clearing up the stench of the expenses scandal, restoring public faith in parliament and steering the commons with an impartial hand on the tiller in the run up to a general election.

Chancer Bercow was in with a chance not for his parliamentarian skills but because he slimed up to MPs and backbenchers for years touting for the top job.

Displaying all the superficial charm of a used car-salesman/merchant banker, squeaker Bercow's toughest task now will be to charm voters, fed up, angry and thoroughly disgusted with a discredited Commons.

What was needed was a good egg, someone in it for parliament not themselves. In the end, New Labour MPs lined up to support their Trojan Horse in the speaker sweepstakes because they saw in him one of their kind and could get one over on Dave. No wonder Brown looked so chuffed with himself.

This obnoxious little man insists that he's got what it takes to restore trust in Parliament and politicians but it's difficult to see how an expenses cheat would be capable of repairing the damage of the House up to its greedy neck in sleaze and corruption.

As failed speaker hopeful Ann Widdecombe so assiduously puts it: The speaker needs the "goodwill of parliament" to succeed. The new Mr Speaker hasn't got what it takes. With many Tories detesting this vile man and New Labour voting for him in a game of ya boo sucks to the Tories, he's not the right man to restore that much-needed public trust.

MPs have learnt nothing from the devastating expenses scandal, clinging onto the the vain hope it will all blow over.

The font of all expenses shows all-round slime-ball Bercow is no stranger to the expenses scam. The Telegraph reveals how he 'flipped' his second home and twice got his tax form filled in at taxpayers expense, a move which a tax expert described as “scandalous”. So much for the much heralded fresh start.

For the history books, Bercow becomes the first 'Conservative' Speaker since 1992, following Labour's Martin and Boothroyd into the hot seat. But a Tory in name only without the guts to cross-over to his new found friends.

As the election sweepstakes unfolded, government shoe-in Beckett fell at the second hurdle, with revolting MPs refusing to play ball with a stitch-up by government whips, leaving squeaker Bercow to be installed as a ringer in the big comfy speaker's chair. The messy game of party political one upmanship will do nothing to restore battered public confidence.

MPs were still up to their old tricks, trying to juggle their favourite into the top job, treating the public and parliament with contempt. The Orange Party wholeheartedly agrees with Rachel Sylvester over at The Times. This shows the commons at its worst.

How depressing that MPs could not seize this opportunity to show the public they truly understand their anger and need for a fresh start with a Speaker who was relatively clean and not too tarnished with the expenses brush.

MPs still have a lot to learn from the public wrath over their squalid expenses which saw disgraced speaker Martin getting the boot. The Commons does not exist to serve their own greedy self-serving interest.

The high office of speaker does not exist to serve the self-serving interest of a two-bit politician who's motive to become Speaker is based more on personal ambition rather than on a honest belief in the need to clean up the Commons.

What's most disturbing is that the appointment of squeaker Bercow could bring the House even further into disrepute.

The Orange Party may be proved wrong and he may turn out to be the best thing since Betty B. But he's on probation and may not last long with the Tories waiting in the wings to pull the rug from under his feet.

Everyone wanted change except MPs with the most to lose. But for now it's back to business as usual in Brown's Big Brother House.

Read More...