Fiddling MPs Dodge Expenses Crackdown

Greedy MPs have swindled taxpayers out of over £1 million with half the House forced to pay back their ill-gotten gains. But crooks, cheats and chancers have wriggled out of the farce of a crackdown, disappearing in a fog of appeals and audits.

Brown's expenses-buster-in-chief is set to deliver a 'devastating' damning verdict on the troughers. Guido is setting up a splendid running blog of the sinners.

Taxpayers will find out today the names of more than 350 fiddling MPs who haven't got a leg to stand on, after been ordered to repay over £1 million following Legg's audit of their shoddy expenses claims.

But Legg's 'crackdown' has been dogged with doubt after it emerged dozens of MPs have been allowed to dodge repayment demands.

Legg is expected to pull no punches, making it clear he thought the whole system was corrupt. MPs have no one to blame but themselves for milking a system rotten to the core, establishing a “culture of deference” which allowed flourishing abuses.

The sordid saga of MPs' expenses has disappeared in a muddle of watchdogs, audits and inquiries after the Telegraph first blew the whistle many moons ago. Some MPs will leg it, some cried foul and appealed and others have still to face the courtroom music.

Legg came under fire from some MPs by retrospectively changing the expenses rules on cleaning and gardening after the scandal broke, leaving dozens of MPs, including Brown, forced to cough up repayments.

So step forward former judge Kennedy, hearing a whopping 73 appeals against repayments, sometimes cutting the amounts to be repaid by five-figure sums, according to the Telegraph, which reckons at least 30 of the 73 appeals had their repayments scrapped or reduced.

Redacted receipts, party star chambers, visits by Yates of the Yard and more knights than around Arthur's round table. At the last count the Orange Party reckons there's one Legg and a couple of Kennedys wandering around. And has anyone here seen Kelly? The commons sleazebuster accused MPs today of going along with a flawed system.

With so many confusing 'watchdogs' wagging their tails, often at odds with each other, no wonder voters are left bothered and bewildered.

MPs, hiding behind the smokescreen of blaming the commons fees office, have been flushed out by Legg, who blames them, rather than the office, for allowing abuses to develop.

Meanwhile the 'independent' parliamentary standards authority, IPSA, shows little sign of living up to its name. And a separate audit of MPs' expenses by the national audit office will not be published until after the election.

The long overdue Kelly review is set to give the House of Shame a much needed cleansing of the rotten stench of corruption, with a 'root and branch' reform to sweep away the gravy train. But too late for the current bunch of troughing MPs faced with Legg's £1 million payback.

The rotten ball has been kicked into touch in the wiggle room. Now the expenses racket is set be buried in a muddle of deceit and self-serving self-interest, dodgy appeals, a watered down Kelly and a cosy unelected, unaccountable quango to take away the heat.

The Legg report makes depressing reading for voters already thoroughly angry and disillusioned with the corrupt state of politics.

Wannabe MPs ready to do battle in the election will be hoping Legg's public punishment, naming and shaming fiddling MPs, will draw a line under the sordid saga. But the scandal has left a sorry stain on the House of Shame and a bitter taste for voters.

Trust in parliament and MPs is at an all-time low. Legg will do little to assuage the anger, highlighting a House full of fudge, riddled with expenses cheats hopping on the appeals bandwagon.

Until an election, the rotten carcass of MPs' expenses will continue to fester away, leaving angry taxpayers, who footed the bill for their life of Riley, still baying for blood.

Top pictures: Private Eye. Book cover: Disinfecting Parliament, Juliet S. Samuel

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Deceitful Charade Of Blair's Parade

The Blair circus is in town with the slippery showman set to be savaged by dead sheep at the Chilcot whitewash. A question for warmongering Blair: Why did you murder thousands with an illegal invasion?

A huge security operation is underway with taxpayers footing the £250,000 bill for Judgment Day and the disgraced ex-PM sneaking in by the back door.

But Blair is protected by his own ring of steel, with the dark forces of power and influence and the mandarin mentality of the old boys club of Brown's Chilcot placemen.

With not a lawyer among them and no 'evidence' under oath, none have the skill nor experience in forensic questioning to penetrate the slick veneer of Barrister Blair.

Two top FO international lawyers have told Chilcot the war was illegal. It was a breach of international law and therefore a crime. That's enough for the Orange Party. Why continue with the charade and allow Blair to massage his ego?

If Chilcot isn't a 'trial' then cut to the quick. Issue an arrest warrant for war crimes and let a court decide. The legal precedent is there after someone tried it on with a planned visit of an Israeli foreign minister.

A deep sense of anger and frustration has set in for the families of many of the 179 UK soldiers killed in Iraq. Chilcot is a waste of space. Thousands of vital documents remain classified. All roads lead back to Blair. His lasting legacy is a country and families shattered by an illegal war.

Slippery Blair changed his tune while cosying up to Fern Britton with a crafty pre-emptive strike at Chilcot. With brazen cheek, the master wriggler now says he would have backed the invasion even if he had known beforehand Iraq had no WMDs.

A gung-ho war to topple evil Sadam. But illegal regime change rather than hunting invisible WMDs. An arrogant PM who took the country to war on the back of a pack of lies.

Seven years and hundreds of thousands of lives lost later, the shame and scandal of the greatest moral and political disaster in recent history continues. Until today the low point was a gut-wrenching performance by Blair's shameless spin doctor-in-chief, Campbell, backing up his boss.

Now, even the former PM's weasel words will be a mere side show. Bunkered Brown is set to be dragged before Chilcot - denying that a war even took place on his treasury watch.

But Brown did not set up Chilcot to a tight remit only to indict himself, Blair or the New Labour cronies.

It's not there to "apportion blame" but to "identify the lessons that can be learned". A line so often used when a culprit is looking for an excuse to soldier on.

But after the Hutton whitewash into the mysterious death of government scientist David Kelly, who blew the whistle on sexed up WMD dossiers, it's now down to the last chance of Chilcot to hold those responsible to account.

As In The Loop's Armando Iannucci writes today, it's time for Chilcot to flex their ageing muscles: "Despite the disastrous failings of intelligence, the obvious lack of preparedness and the horrendous whiff of deceit, no one so far has apologised or got sacked. Heads did not roll; they got knighted."

Blair duped parliament and the people to launch his aggressive illegal war, motivated by displaced deference to the powerful Bush administration and a warped sense of the "right thing to do".

Passed over for his lifelong dream of the plumb EU job, Blair has been left to wander the world with his ill-gotten gains, blood on his hands, guilt on his shoulders and thousands of pounds from a City hedge fund which raked in fat profits from the banking crisis.

And this is the secret weapon New Labour hopes to use to win over the marginals in the election?

Now disgraced Blair is trying to salvage what little remains of his tarnished reputation. The deceitful charade of the Chilcot parade looks set to give him that chance.

UPDATE 6pm: Blair was heckled, booed and branded "liar and murderer" after hours lecturing Chilcot and leaving with no regrets.

Top picture: The Times

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Have You Blood On Your Hands, Mr Campbell?

Blair's shameless spin doctor-in-chief, Campbell, has become the story once again, savaged by dead sheep at the Chilcot Iraq war whitewash run by Brown's placemen. Will he put his neck on the line or finger his old pal Blair for taking the country to war on the back of a pack of lies? No chance.

Will any of Brown's cronies have the guts to ask searching, forensic questions? Campbell is bound to back up the Blair line. Playing cat 'n mouse with Chilcot will be a pushover.

Wasting no time, the arrogant old bruiser has already fingered Blair's old foe Brown as a key player in the "inner circle" of disastrous decision-making.

TV highlight of the week is the surly spinmeister's appearance at the Chilcot sheep dog trials not under oath and his hand in beefing up both the 'sexed-up' and 'dodgy' dossiers.

Second only to warmongering Blair, Campbell is the big bogeyman close to the heart of decisions to dupe the public and parliament with an illegal war.

WMDs, sexed-up and dodgy dossiers at dawn but Campbell is a dab hand at Iraq inquiries and can make mincemeat out of Chilcot.

Campbell has already wriggled his way around a commons foreign affairs select committee inquiry, the intelligence & security committee’s investigation et Al. There's no reason to believe Chilcot will be any different.

Downing Street’s ex-director of communications and strategy was made a disgraceful laughing stock with his hand in the 'sexed up' intelligence of the 2002 September dossier and Blair's forward, presented as 'beyond doubt' that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction, ready for use within 45 minutes.

The disgrace of the second 'dodgy' dossier in February 2003, revealed by Channel 4 News, which plagiarised an old graduate student thesis cut and pasted from the internet to make it more scary, was used to promote the dodgy case for war.

And it was Campbell again at the centre of the outing of government WMD expert and whistle-blower Kelly, who died under mysterious circumstances after he dared to tell the truth about the WMD claim.

But the Orange Party has a feeling the outrage over Campbell's part in the hounding of Kelly before his death may be ruled outside the inquiry remit, already covered by the disgrace of the Hutton inquiry whitewash.

The exposure of Campbell’s dirty tricks began on BBC Radio 4 at 06:07 on 29th May 2003 when BBC reporter Andrew Gilligan spilled the beans to bleary eyed listeners over the 'sexed up' dossier, later pointing the finger at Campbell.

Heads rolled as war broke out between the BBC and Downing Street, ending with the death of Gilligan’s source, Kelly, who had dared to use the "C" word.

The shame and scandal continues to this day, seven years and hundreds of thousands of lives lost later.

Blair has been left to wander the world with his ill-gotten gains with blood on his hands and guilt on his shoulders. Campbell still has his feet under the Downing Street table but without the power Blair gave him to call the shots over civil servants.

The excellent Channel 4 Iraq inquiry blog has a few hard-hitting questions for Campbell, urging twitter users to ask their own. One of the Orange Party's favourites: how do you sleep at night?

As the dust settles, the old Tucker will still be In the Loop, destined to become a disgraceful footnote in a scandalous and shameful episode of New Labour history.

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Has Anybody Here Seen Kelly?

Troughing MPs have got their comeuppance in Kelly's expenses crackdown for greedy MPs. But when the fuss dies down, voters are set to be let down, leaving a stiched-up music hall farce: Has Anybody Here Seen Kelly?

The heavily-leaked Kelly review gives the House of Shame a much-needed cleansing of the rotten stench of corruption.

Party leaders have been quick to call for full on support for the Kelly cleanup. But despite the relentless spin, the rotten ball is set to be kicked into touch in the wiggle room, leaving the public none the wiser this side of the election.

The Orange Party had every confidence the recommendations would be welcomed by all and sundry. And every confidence the expenses racket will be buried in a watered down muddle of deceit and self-serving self-interest before anything sees the light of day.

Kelly's 'root and branch' reform would sweep away the gravy train culture only if the package was accepted in full and then voted on in the commons. That would have forced MPs to stand up and be counted. Fat chance.

House leader, 'Big Sis' Harman, has already let MPs off the hook declaring there won't be a vote on the vexed issue. At a stroke, voters are denied a chance to decide who's crooked and who's not. Instead it's down to the unacceptable face of quangoland.


With so many scams it's a wonder Kelly could keep track of them all. Dodgy perks and scandalous homes and tax fiddles put MPs in a class of their own.

Voters have enough dirt to dig out the truth behind the lies and deceit of the self-serving servants of the public.

What is not needed is yet another unelected, unaccountable quango or committee to cherry pick the bits of Kelly that take their fancy.

The 'independent' parliamentary standards authority, IPSA, rushed through in July's parliamentary standards act, shows little sign of living up to its name.

Parliament will play second fiddle to a bunch of faceless bureaucrats and patsies. MPs will be answerable to unelected bureaucrats not the electorate.

IPSA members and commissioner will be approved by a 'speaker’s committee' where ultimately squeaker Bercow calls the shots. Vast power will be handed over to a bunch of political elitists who are not accountable to the electorate. MPs have no role in the selection.

The commons 'speaker's committee' of MPs, made up of the usual suspects, has already picked a quango boss and handed him a whopping £100k a year, to gasps from MPs.

An unelected quango to oversee MPs' expenses tears parliamentary democracy to shreds. How will these guardians be selected? How can voters be sure they will stay corruption-free? Who's to say those with a vested interest won't again turn a blind eye to the scandalous abuse.

The Orange Party has warned before: who will guard the expenses guardians in Brown's Big Brother House?

Trust in parliament and MPs is at an all-time low. The House of Shame is riddled with expenses cheats who elected a tax-dodger and house flipper as speaker. Setting up another quango in Kelly's wake is not the way to build trust.

In a democracy, the electorate is the best regulator. Voters can see through the lies and deceit and boot out the crooks and spivs if only they were given the chance.

Without an election, parliament and democracy is being reduced to a sinister farce. The sovereignty of parliament is subjugated to an unelected quango. The rotten carcass of MPs' expenses will continue to fester away.

If in doubt, spin it out. Fast forward a few months and taxpayers will be left wondering: Has anybody here seen Kelly? K. E. double L. Y.

Mid picture: Private Eye cover. Music: The late, great Florrie Forde (1875-1940)

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Who Killed Dr David Kelly?

The official 'suicide' of government weapons expert, Dr David Kelly, has been called into question by a group of doctors hoping to overturn the controversial verdict and a new documentary which sheds fresh light on the mysterious death of the scientist whose body was found in Oxfordshire woods six years ago this week.

Kelly's death came just days after he was at the centre of a government witch-hunt for the source of embarrassing leaks over now discredited Iraq weapons of mass destruction.

The Hutton Inquiry into the circumstances surrounding his death and the controversial suicide ruling led The Independent to clear its entire front page with one giant word - WHITEWASH.

The death in 2003 prompted reporters to ask prime minister Blair the chilling question whether he had "blood on his hands" as Kelly's apparent suicide came days after he was grilled in the commons and exposed as the source of a BBC news report questioning the "sexed up dossier" on Iraq’s alleged WMDs.

Now the circumstances surrounding Kelly's death are set to return to haunt the government in a two pronged attack by leading doctors who question the suicide verdict and US television investigators who claim Kelly was writing a book exposing the murky world of anthrax and “suicides” of five government germ warfare scientists from around the world.

Many have long argued Kelly's death wasn't suicide with the more likely explanation that he was murdered by enemies in the course of his work as a weapons inspector.

The Orange Party doesn't believe government agents were part of a dastardly assassination plot. More likely part of a bungled botched-up attempt to cover-up his death as an apparent suicide.

LibDem MP Norman Baker in a forensic investigation for his book The Strange Death Of David Kelly reaches a similar startling conclusion putting him at odds with Blair's spin doctor Campbell, and his part in the 'dodgy dossier' that was used to justify the Iraq invasion.

Claims that this had been "sexed up" sent Campbell into a spin, waging a fierce campaign against the BBC, eventually leading to Kelly's death.

The 90-minute documentary, Anthrax War, by investigative journalist Bob Coen already aired on Canadian public television, claims Kelly's death may have been linked to the secret world of germ warfare research and adds to the calls for a full and proper inquest into Kelly's death.

The film exposes Kelly's links with Dr Walter Basson and his notorious work for the South African apartheid regime using chemical and biological weapons research to ethnically cleanse the black population.

The assassination scenario is strengthened by revelations that a team of 13 specialist doctors who worked closely with Baker have compiled a detailed medical dossier that rejects the Hutton conclusion that Kelly died from loss of blood. Those revelations in the Mail on Sunday also claim they think it is highly likely he was assassinated.

Reports in today's Sunday Express reveal Kelly, an expert in biological warfare and a former United Nations weapons inspector in Iraq, was writing a highly damaging book before his mysterious death.

That was due to reveal the claim that he'd warned Blair that Iraq possessed no weapons of mass destruction as well as lifting the lid on the scandal of his own secret dealings in germ warfare with the apartheid regime in South Africa.

Following his death, Kelly's computers were seized and many involved in probing the mystery of Kelly's death, including Baker, have also found material on their computer had disappeared.

Critics have long regarded the Hutton report as a 'whitewash'. Blair remains acutely sensitive to the accusation that he has 'blood on his hands' over the scientist's death.

The only official verdict came from the Blair commissioned Hutton Inquiry, which concluded that Kelly died from loss of blood after cutting his wrist with a blunt gardening knife.

In a highly unusual move, a coroner's inquest into the scientist's death was suspended before it could begin by order of the then Lord Chancellor Lord Falconer, which is now set to be challenged by the doctors.

The Hutton Inquiry included the chilling testimony from a former British ambassador who quotes Kelly as having said, “I will probably be found dead in the woods” if Iraq were invaded.

Anthrax War which will be screened privately in London on July 17, the sixth anniversary of Kelly’s death, includes this extract which centres on the biological weapons expert following an anthrax scare after 9/11.

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Will Mandy Drop Brown After Iraq U-Turns?

With more U-turns than a drunken driver deluded Brown's long-awaited Iraq war inquiry is set to descend from fudge to farce changing at every twist and turn. Now the shabby stitch-up deal between Brown and Mandy to protect his boss Blair has been exposed. Brown could be cast adrift after serving His Master's manipulating purpose.

For arch political plotter Brown, the problem was intractable. Go for a full blown cover-up and risk the wrath of backbench Labour MPs and many in the Party or bow to Mandy on a promise to prop him up in the fag-end days of his premiership.

In the end the struggling Supreme Leader chose his own political survival over the Party and the people.

The outcome of the shabby deals has left the Iraq inquiry a confusing mess and left McCavity Brown looking foolish.

Playing out in the full public spotlight it was difficult keeping up with U-Turn Brown.

Standing up in parliament and announcing the inquiry would be held in secret to cries of a stitch-up. Now some bits could well be held in public.

It would not apportion blame. Then his own foreign secretary directly contradicts this, telling MPs exactly the opposite.

The inquiry is not a full blown legal public inquiry and does not have powers to subpoena witnesses under oath. Now it seems it can ask witnesses to make a formal promise to tell the truth.

The country was duped and taken to war on a lie. Everyone knows that. So why take such a suicidal line on something which gets right up the nose of many backbench true Labour MPs, military chiefs and families of the war dead and injured?

Brown was out-manoeuvred and out-classed as he caved in to Mandy pressure. A squalid little deal was struck to get Mandy support for increasingly beleaguered Brown and part of a Mandelson plan to protect Blair and his bid for the EU presidency.

John Kampfner, in the Spectator, blows the gaffe on the Prince of Darkness in a brilliant piece of incisive writing. Mandy's boss Blair has a lot to hide. Inquiry revelations could damage his plan to become EU president. Demanding a secret inquiry was part of the deal for supporting beleaguered Brown during the failed Blairite plot to oust him. In return he gets to be top-dog.

Now the inquiry is being dragged screaming into something resembling what it should have been in the first place. McCavity can turn around and say he kept to his part of the deal and it's out of his hands. But that won't keep Mandy or Blair sweet.

The inquiry outcome into the disgrace of a war is still set to take a full year until after the general election but could still blow both Blair and Campbell out of the water.

The power behind the throne will not be a happy bunny. Brown's last hope will drop him like a ton of bricks when the time it right.

Any spin of 'winning' yesterday’s vote on a Tory motion was a hollow victory. True Labour 'rebel' MPs have been let down and were expecting more than this sham, disgusted by the whole charade. It still leaves a bitter taste and a festering reminder of a fag-end government which spent billions of pounds and lost dozens of lives, fighting an illegal war.

A bunch of faceless cronies and government props will still be locked away behind closed doors. The issue of the legality and how the wool was pulled over everyone's eyes and the smokescreen of WMDs will be buried under the usual smokescreen of secrecy.

The shameful legacy of events leading to war has left many with blood on their hands, not least a disgraced two-faced ex-prime minister Blair and his "taste for war" and the squalid part played by New Labour chief spin doctor Campbell over sexed-up dossiers, invisible WMDs and the death of government scientist, Dr David Kelly.

There is still raw anguish of the families of brave servicemen and women whose loved ones were sent to a bloody war ill-equipped and duped into the Iraq killing fields on the back of a pack of lies and deceit. The dreadful legacy is still fresh in many people's minds.

The whole shameful episode needs the disinfectant of the public spotlight. The stitched-up secret inquiry with a whitewash outcome in a year's time would have put the clocks back to the bad old days of New Labour lies, deceit and spin. But now there's a chance it may have some real teeth after all.

But Brown has lost control of the inquiry and with it his power continues to ebb away.

The casualty could well be Brown. Mandy doesn't need him any more. Billy no mates Brown could be left to face September's leaving party conference all on his lonesome. Time to make that dignified exit and do what he's adamant he would never do - walk away.

Meanwhile another war rages in the new Vietnam of Afghanistan as over-stretched troops struggle to keep up with the doomed US surge to root out invisible Taliban.

Few had the guts to challenge war-mongering Blair in his Iraq war. Few have the guts now to ask what the hell we are doing out there in this bloody, hopeless and winnable war.

Picture: Front cover Private Eye

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Is Campbell Set For A Lordship?

Brown's electioneering has already moved up a gear, reportedly offering New Labour's hard man, Alastair Campbell, a seat in the House of Lords, to allow the Downing Street spin-doctor a ministerial job ahead of the general election. Campbell, according to reports, is said to be "resisting the move". But the Orange Party smells a PR rat. Speculation like this is often placed in the media to gauge public reaction and as a softening up exercise. 

The move makes sense for canny Brown and his Downing Street team of spin doctors. Campbell remains a major player behind the scenes as Brown's informal adviser. But unlike the old days, he doesn't have the formal clout to sit in on meetings and steer and influence policy.

A two pronged attack would wrong-foot the Tories and Mandelson and Campbell make a perfect combination. But Brown won't make the same mistake as Blair, who used his royal prerogative to promote Campbell and side step and override the civil service. 

The move now has a precedent after Mandelson took the ermine,  so that he could join the government as business minister. 

Campbell, remains a highly controversial figure on the fringe of government, not least for his part in the 'dodgy dossier' that was used to justify the Iraq invasion. Claims that this had been "sexed up" sent Campbell into a spin, waging a fierce campaign against the BBC, which eventually led to the death of government scientist Dr David Kelly. 

Campbell, one of the original New Labour architects along with Blair, Mandelson and political polster Philip Gould, was one of the key figures in the political rebirth of Brown as he faced down last summer's Blairite coup.

The move would be the latest in a series of measures by team Brown with speculation rife over the come back of other big beasts all in the name of Progress towards a New Labour election victory. 

Arch-Blairite Alan Milburn is to lead a government commission on social mobility. Disgraced former home secretary, David Blunkett, is also tipped for a return. 

No doubt, like Mandelson, when the time is right, Campbell will finally be dragged screaming to the cameras claiming he had no choice but to bow to the pressure. It will be an "honour and privilege to serve" and he's reluctantly making all these sacrifices "in the best interests of the Party" and a cushy and powerful seat  in the House of Lords and government.

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Cabinet Throws Its Toys Out Of The Pram

Brown's cabinet cry babies are threatening to throw their toys out of the pram, if he tries it on with a cabinet shuffle. Faced with a botched-up job on the Bradford & Bingley buy-out and the Blairites in open revolt, it seems Brown has been outmanoeuvred and nowhere left to turn. 

The Daily Mail reports that Brown's plans to shuffle the pack were "in turmoil last night as senior ministers threatened to resign if he tries to move them."

"Sources said they expect the Prime Minister to put off a major reshuffle amid fears it could prompt all-out war at the top of the Government."

The list is growing longer by the day, after Kelly jumped ship or was thrown overboard and then promptly nailed her Miliband colours to the mast. 

Hoon says he doesn't was to go to Brussels. Miliband and Johnson want to stay in their job, or have Brown's job. Purnell and Darling reckon they are quite comfy. 

What a smug, arrogant lot they are. 

The move comes as news of the government's B&B buy-out was leaked to the BBC's Robert Preston. A double edged sword.

In the heady days of Brown's big moment, he tried to scupper the Tory conference with an election that never was and a troop withdrawal from Iraq that never was. 

The timing of the B&B buy-out wrong-footed the Conservatives and left Cameron and Osborne  frantically having to rearrange their notes and speeches. 

And for the Blarites, any whiff of a major reshuffle now would look like closing the door after the economic horse has bolted. 

Now it could be a tinkering round the edges but a reshuffle that never was. In the cunning world of Brown anything is possible - it just takes him a little while to get round to it.

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