Multi-Millionaire Clegg Claims Tax Free Allowance
99% of the Maximum Legally Allowed
So we wait 48 days for something that Nick Clegg said should be published immediately* and it breaks down as follows:Additional Costs Allowance he claimed £23,083.00100% of the maximum £23,083 legally allowed.Incidental Expenses Provision claim £20,926.6398% of the maximum £21,339 legally allowed.
Guido wonders why it took so long to add up. Does this restore your trust in politicans?
UPDATE : Checking the back of an envelope, at the 40% rate that is equivalent to gross pay of £74,036 on top of his salary - effectively doubling his salary for home improvements.
*"His "publish immediately" demand here. Detailed breakdown here.
61 comments:
Just tuned in to the Guido blog, having just heard about this on R4..
What a co-incidence this revelation is, coming on the day of the PM's big speech about the legislative plans, and so soon after Guido reminded him of his promise to be 'open and transparent'.
This stinks to high heaven I tell you - they really are taking the piss and I would be v. disappointed if this is buried on page 27 of the papers tomorrow, behind 17 pages of coverage about the draft Queen's speech [Tut tut.. that is no way to refer to our Esteemed Leader, the PM Gordon Broon..Ed..]
BBC News makes no mention of the fact that Clegg's been hounded by Guido for months to give this info. Nor that Clegg's office have been effectively fobbing Guido off during this period.
In March, Mr Clegg warned that withholding more detailed breakdowns of MPs' expenses would deal a "hammer blow" to public confidence.
He released his own information - published on the party website - voluntarily.
Aides said they chose the date before the government announced it would be publishing its draft legislative programme on the same day.
Hello Mr Clegg OINK OINK!!
The Palace of Parasites strikes again.
Great to see this story getting the full and extensive coverage, debate and analysis it deserves over on Lib Dem 'Voice'...
Interesting that Clegg appears to have deliberately bought a delapidated house knowing that he can use taxpayers money to bring it upto scratch (thus increasing its value). Is this expenditure really "service and maintenance" or actually expenditure of a capital nature (which would not be claimable under the rules)?
That BBC report is a disgrace, they should at least give whichever one of Clegg's staff wrote it a credit.
Why are taxpayers funding the restoration of Multi-millionaire Nick's house?
little wonder he was slow to come forward with his expense claims.
Plastering would be capital expenditure - odd gaps elsewhere - IT/Computer equipment that do not use consumables (can we all get them?), no stamps/website maintenance?
This has had a lot of work - who dunnit?
In fairness, he's left a very generous £ 587.83 on the table, presumably as some sort of tip. No Hillary Clinton, he.
" He said the Sheffield property had been in a "neglected condition" when he bought it and needed the work to make it fit for normal use - money was spent on repairing his garage, redecorating his living room and tiling his kitchen wall. "
Why the fuck are we paying for this? If he ( or any of the porcine cunts ) want to improve their houses, they should be paying for it themselves, the same as the rest of us! It would hardly be a struggle on what they get for a salary.
No wonder he took his time releasing this. You would think the MSM would be all over them. Oh, I forgot they all feed from the same trough.
I wonder what little gems will come out when Martin loses his appeal?
Why the hell have we paid for £7k of work on his house in Sheffield?
Surely that is fuck all to do with his work in London.
Loathsome, worthless little turd.
I'd say the hypocrisy was breathtaking, if they hadn't already taken my breath away, many years ago.
Before being selected as a parliamentary candidate, do you have to undergo a shame-ectomy?
P.S. Well done that Guido for prodding away at this story. I heard it on R4, which as others have commented, presented it in the BBC's time-honoured way. Bastards.
As I see it, the most important task of MPs is to represent their consituents in parliament. Now Clegg spends £456 on surgery costs and in order to convey the message from his surgery to parliament however, it costs the taxpayers a further £21 585.11 to keep a roof over his head/or give him a home. His surgery costs total 2% of his basic housing costs. This is an outrage!
As mentioned buying a house in poor condition, and doing it up, makes capital apreciation at the taxpayers expense.Surely this can't be allowed in the 21 century!
Now we want to know David Cameron's expenses too!!
I heard Nick Clegg live on PMQ's today, for the first time. He's pretty damn useless, isn't he?
Sounded like the leader of the losing team in inter-school debating society.
I think it's sweet.
It shows his concern for the poorer members of society.
After all, I'm sure he knows plenty of people with much more money than him - enough to give him an inferiority complex (and who said he deserves one?)!
I thought Guido was a libertarian. Does he think a multi-millionaire shouldn't claim tax free allowances he is entitled to?
NICK CLEGG has NO credibility left.
So he buys a run down property in Sheffield (on a mortgage), expects the taxpayer to restore it for him and pay his mortgage payments. Then when he leaves office the house is His for keeps, to do what he wants with.
Surely this takes the piss out of Gravy train, this is FRAUD Train.
STOP this taxpayer buying of MPs houses so they can be close to their jobs and even worse letting MPs keep these houses to sell into their own pockets when they get sacked.
Why not provide every constituency with an MP abode and Westminster a flat for every MP while they are in office ..and no more? A bit like a vicarage.
Even better, if a person wants to be an MP in a location he does not live, then let that person bear the cost, NOT the taxpayer.
NICK CLEGG you are sponging SCUM, much like the rest of most MPs.
What a total and utter CUNT!! the "man" is pointless,witless and makes me ashamed to be a human being.
The only MP who deserves garroting more is the snottwieller himself.
Anonymous @ 7.31,
Well he is claiming cash from taxpayers, tax free, for dubious expenses that should not properly be paid for by the public.
£3.1bn: Cost of Conservative inheritance tax proposals condemned by Chancellor Alistair Darling as "an example of where the Tories are making promises on tax which they can't afford to pay for" in October 2007. "If you do that, you create the very instability which is the last thing the economy needs and people in this country would pay for that."
£2.7bn: Unfunded income tax cuts proposed by Chancellor Alistair Darling eight months later. "the measures would be funded through borrowing so as not to take money out of the economy while it was slowing."
Guido Fawkes said...
"Anonymous @ 7.31,"
Anonymous? Erm.....whatever happened to anonymong then?
Tory Leader in the European Parliament:"South West MEP Giles Chichester, has now admitted paying his wife Virginia up to £30,000 as a PART-TIME assistant. He is also paying up to £30,000 of taxpayers' cash to his family firm Francis Chichester Ltd which publishes maps and guide books. He claims that the company provides him with secretarial help." I'll await Guido's comment...
Surely if the taxpayer is payng the mortgage, council tax, utilities, repairs, maintenance etc, - then the house belongs to the taxpayer?
Isn't there a law somewhere that says the person paying for something is the person who now owns it?
Or have they repealed that one? If so, I can just take my neighbour's fancy Mazda. Just because he paid for it, doesn't mean it's his.
If he objects, there are a whole host of politicians who can explain this New Way to him.
I'll have his big flat-screen TV while I'm at it, and he can pay for the licence. If it's good enough for Tiny Blur, it's good enough for me.
Also, his incidental expenses include £400 petty cash.
Anyone in business who claimed £400 for petty cash without explaining what it was spent on would get an assessment on the basis that they had trousered the cash.
These fuckers just don't live in the real world
Fair enough - they do, in the main, need somewhere to crash either at Westminster or the constituency.
BUT I think both abodes should be rented properties that the poorest of that area would live in - without expenses. The ones near westminster should be bedsits a la YMCA/Youth Hostel rooms. It would be worth taxpayers stumping up for somewhere fleabitten and shabby - with shared facilities. About what alot of taxpayers can barely afford.
Sorry, I thought the whole point of becoming an MP was to load up on freebies, handouts, expenses and other goodies. Generally screw the taxpayer that is.
So why are we being so hard on Clegg Over? We should be ashamed of ourselves.
I told you he looked like a third rate accountant!
Why is Nick's renovated house for Nick to keep?
Time for the taxpayer to provide every constituency with an MP house where said MP can conduct his/her business while they are in office AND NO MORE.
You won't be hearing any more from Leg-Iron because I have helped myself to his computer.
Off topic, but - that Glaswgian MP who asked Gordon Brown to wish Rangers luck at PMQs must have been mad. Unsurprsingly they've just lost...
So Gordo wished Rangers luck with predictable results
Bravo Guido, bravo.
And now Maestro the encore, s'il vous plait.
Which one of the kaniving, duplicitous taxpayer-fucking trough dwellers is next?
On a par with snotgobbler and princess dave. great.
i see gordo bolled up rangers chances then
Taxpayers' strike.
Nick - no problem. The neighbour had a better one anyway.
Be warned though, the one you took will detonate if you type a certain word.
Very simple to fix the house improvement allowance. The MP repays the allowance plus say 50% of the uplift in price on sale to the Treasury. Or dies.
@anonymous 7:31
"maximum amount allowed" does NOT equal "entitled to"
Interesting that Clegg appears to have deliberately bought a delapidated house knowing that he can use taxpayers money to bring it upto scratch (thus increasing its value).
The way the housing market is dropping he'll have to get a bloody move on.
MR Clegg you are all that is bad about today's politician.
Creaming it off pensioners, one parent families and disabled workers like myself who voted for you, its a mistake I won't make again.
PAY IT BACK!
Is it any wonder these cunts are selling us out the EU as it provides an even grander seat on the gravy train when their miserable excuse for a 'career' is fucked up in this country.
For fucks sake people, vote UKIP, vote Liberterian vote for anyone who is championing our exit from the poxy EU.
What a stunning piece of twisting!
Buy a run-down house and refurbish it at taxpayers expense and then trouser the capital appreciation personally.If politicians took the same care of Nation's finances then we would not be in the present mess.
Congrats again Guido.I hope this interesting news is brought to the attention of the good people of Crewe and Nantwich.
They must regret rejecting Huhne.
Liberal Democrat Voice has 'no comment' as yet on Nick's 'home renovation' skills. The LDV site is a joke; the people in charge of it- a joke; the Party that it supports- a joke. No wonder the 'disgusting' Libbies gravitate towards LyingLabour.
Guido,
Look, what your readers must understand is that when I moved in, the place was in a dreadful state.
The previous occupant was an elderly man who had clearly let it go a bit. One room was full of discarded whiskey bottles, there was even a dead dog under the carpet! And I'd rather not go into why I had to get rid of the glass coffee table....
But I can assure everybody that Lib Dem HQ is slowly getting back into shape. As for my house in Sheffield, your readers can just fuck off out of it.
Sincerely,
NC
Firstly, a millionaire is someone who earns more than £1,000,000 p.a., not someone with capital to that value or greater.
Secondly, I'd rather a multi-millionaire running the country at the moment. Clegg must presumably have grasped the basic principle of spending less than he's earning to reach this state, which leaves him several miles ahead of Gordon Broon.
Lastly, I'm not sure I blame him for dodging as much tax as he could. It's practically a civic duty to keep money away from the shower in power at the moment.
Guido when are you going to add Mayor Boris to your list of porkers. Remember he's already snatched your gin away.
Now he's going back to his Telegraph column £250... he's still the MP for Henley taking his salary and benefits... and now has turned the Mayoralty into a part time job and takes £137000 of taxpayers money
OK, so the taxpayer funds the Clegg Property Club - how many times do MPs buy and sell these vital must-be-owned second homes?
Given the availability of tenancies, the short term nature of some MP's existence - the rationale for ownership is laid bare in a bull-running housing market. Now it's cooled off a bit, expect MPs to consider some other trousering schemes.
Why cannot there be a home for each seat to be occupied if required by the encumbent? Why should the MP have the capital gain to himself when the taxpayer has funded the improvements? If the government is considering mortgage-sharing schemes then the state should take the fair proportion of the capital gain when MPs use taxpayers money - otherwise need for defence of the realm (feeding, equipping military personnel), education, hospitals (no you cannot have a cancer-combatting drug - Clegg needs the money for his downstairs bathroom (oooohh!! Look at mine!) - and so on.
C'mon where's Hogarth? William? Get yer pencil out lad and show us these fatuous, unprincipled, word-weedling, trousering bastards as they deserve to be seen.
One of the anonymous postings above said it well; ie that all politicians who are forced to have 2 bases to be able to do their job should get subsidised for one of them (or a higher salary), otherwise normal people who don't have a massive stash of cash behind them can't realistically become an MP.
So, if you did away with those kind of allowances, you'd actually make it so that only the extremely rich could be an MP, and that's the last thing I want.
You can have caveats like some of the postings above to cater for it, such as the idea of profit-upon-sale being split back to the taxpayer by the relevant amounts.
My contribution here is coupled to the business with Martin (Speaker) and Lyon (Standards and Priviledges) finding OK for his wife to pilfer the public purse on his behalf.
I wrote to Lyon recently, in connection with my MP (whose shall remain nameless [for the timebeing]) and use of the ACA.
I pointed out to him that since 'The Rules' are so ill-defined I can't say there's 'wrongdoing' according to 'The Rules,' but, from what I've found out it sure as hell stinks to high-heaven and it's this sort of stuff that makes Parliament and its contents destested even more (if that's possible).
I also noted that without the ACA breakouts we, Joe Public cannot even see, in the absence of real rules, if there's some sort of consistency of the use of the ACA when a 'second home' is *designated* by a *first time* use of money from the ACA pot in the context of *three* (or more) possibilities.
I went into great detail, keeping it wryly humerous - funnily enough I used a 'quantum politics' analogy (cf.:
http://www.order-order.com/2008/04/schrdingers-guardian.html)
and I duly got the 'brush-off' (after 'careful' consideration) and he didn't see any cause for concern.
Before I wrote to him, I tried to prize the info from my MP - who claims 'always to respond' and that constituent 'concerns' are of the utmost importance.
Have I heard anything ? Have I Hell. Gone to ground.
Zero accountability. They talk of the 'crisis of democracy' being the 'lack of engagement.' Bollocks, what they really mean, is we'll piss ourselves if you DO decide to take democracy (and accountability seriously).
Anyway, I've had enough. I'm forking some info. over to Guido, by email. I think it's up there with Cleggy et. al. (when we finally get the breakdowns).
For the 'record' of course ;-)
Guido ... can you do a short acknowledgemt here?
It'll be an e-mail, with Lyon's response attached with a URL and password to the documentation I sent to him.
Remember that this is his nth year as a Sheffield MP. How much was spent on maintenance to his Sheffield house in each of the previous years?
Surely in the interests of trnasparency all the legitimate stuff like paying staff and having computers and printers and an office that meets any sort of normal health and safety standards (when I worked for an MP their constituency staff would have to put buckets around the fofice whenever it rained) from doing up your home.
Of course most of them don't want to do that because then they'd have to take thier snouts out. Can't someone campaign for this kind of transparency?
Definitely needs to be more itemised and transparent.
In my old job everything had to be fully itemised no matter how small, with receipts for everything. If for some reason you couldn't produce something like a receipt then you'd have to pay for it yourself.
Also when we filled in an expense claim form we accepted that the info on the form was essentially public property; if you didn't want a claim to be public knowledge then you wouldn't claim it.
JABITheW said...
"Firstly, a millionaire is someone who earns more than £1,000,000 p.a., not someone with capital to that value or greater."
That may be your definition but not many people would agree with you.
STILL nothing on LDV about Nick Clegg's expenses. Are they ashamed? Or are they hypocrites? Or are they as thick as f'k?
What will Cleggover's comments be on this bit of trickery and will he take any action?
From Spinwatch
Donor to Lib Dems is client of Lord Clement-Jones’s lobbying firm
The Times, Dominic Kennedy and Rajeev Syal, 6/5/2008
A private health company that became the biggest corporate funder to the Liberal Democrats is a client of the party treasurer’s government lobbying business, The Times has learnt.
Lord Clement-Jones, the Lib Dems’ chief fundraiser since 2005, has come under scrutiny because he helped to get a peerage for a director who sits on the sister companies of Alpha Healthcare, the Lib Dems’ donor.
The discovery of the lobbying link comes as an all-party committee of MPs is to meet on Thursday to consider whether more light should be shed on politicians who are also lobbyists.
In January an investigation by The Times raised concerns about how Lord Hameed, a private hospital chief, was helped to a crossbench peerage by senior Liberal Democrats.
Lord Clement-Jones seconded his nomination. Lord Dholakia, the only Lib Dem on the Lords Appointments Commission, praised the interfaith work of Khalid Hameed when his name came up as a candidate. None of the three declared to the commission that Alpha Healthcare was a donor to the Lib Dems. The company became the main corporate backer of the party with gifts of nearly £400,000. The biggest gift of £125,000 came after the peerage was confirmed.
Lord Hameed, who sits on both of Alpha Healthcare’s sister companies, insisted that he did not know about its donations. Lord Dholakia said that he too was in the dark. But Lord Clement-Jones said he thought that he probably had told Lord Dholakia about the gifts.
continues............
http://www.spinwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4886&Itemid=9
Nick Clegg would be out of his depth as a shopfloor manager at Asda.
The sooner this undemocratic waste of oxygen gets the boot the better, Labour are at an all time low and the Lib dems got knowhere, even losing seats on the GLA.
all night the lib dems were admiting they had peaked and that was the best they could ever do!
what is the point of the Lib dems?
they are nothing more than Labours mini me.
the evidence before us demonstrates clearly that nick clegg is a money grubbing cunt.
note to nick clegg: you are a lying, moneygrubbing spastic.
oh, and have you managed to rinse the taste of gordon brown's cock from your mouth yet.
you fucking lightweight.
Rise decent hardworking fair minded people of England and oust this elitist,money grabbing scum.Quickly.
Peoples medals to Heather Brooke and Guido for this shocking expose of a rip off!!!!!!
anonospastic 1.32,
ever had a people's medal shoved up your arse?
use a name next time you spineless cunt.
Writing at length in the Independent's Extra supplement, Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg says: "We currently have a political class that doesn't demonstrate any capacity or willingness for change: the pay and expenses crisis has brought this into sharp focus."
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