Gordon Brown, tough on crime? - my backside.

I can't believe that Gordon Brown is now taking notice of crime in this country after not being at all bothered in the past. Actually I can believe it, seeing as were just weeks away from a General Election. And isn't it funny that after letting tens of thousands of prisoners out of prison early, he now says he's going to stop that just before the election. What we need, but what he will not offer, is the extra prison places we have needed desperately for years.

People have been attacked, murdered and raped by the dangerous people Labour let out of prison early - all because Gordon Brown would not commit to building prisons. He was happy to waste billions on I.D cards and numerous other failed I.T projects, but he wasn't happy to build the prisons that were needed to keep people safe.

The figures of crime may have fallen, but in real life we know what the true situation is - crime is on the up - but people are becoming desensitised and don't bother to report it.

General Election Poster - Labour Party Funding Explained

From my post in Jan 2008:

Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Alan Duncan is calling for the Union Modernisation Fund to be scrapped. Alan believes that the Unions have Gordon Brown over a barrel, because his party depends so desperately on Union donations. Alan points out that 610,000 working days (20 times last year's number) have been lost this year due to industrial action.

However the government are still giving the unions millions of pounds of the tax payers' money under the guise of the Union Modernisation fund. Some see this as a money laundering scam as the Unions in turn donate millions of pounds to the Labour Party. If the unions are so desperate for tax payer's money, why are they donating millions to the Labour Party?

I agree with Alan, it's well beyond time that this suspect practice was stopped. I do not pay my taxes for a proportion of them to be given to Unions who are financing the Labour Party. Either the Modernisation fund must be scrapped, or the Labour Party must stop taking donations from the Unions.

Troughing Labour MPs send a message to their voters.

Why am I not surprised that the only three Labour MPs who are to face criminal charges are to claim Parliamentary Privilege?

Strip MPs of the title "Honourable" for one year.

The last year has not been a glorious period in our Parliament's history. MPs have disgraced themselves by abusing their position to line their own pockets. The fact that MPs still use the title "Honourable" in parliament to address each other makes me angry to say the least - very few warrant such a title.

I suggest that the title "Honourable" should be taken away from MPs for one year to signify the disgrace brought on by the expenses scandal. It will also provide an historical reference to this shameful period so that it is never forgotten, or repeated.

Poster: Gordon Brown denies knowledge of his secret £50,000 slush fund.

Gordon Brown was caught on the hop in today's PMQ's when he was asked to explain why he had not declared his secret £50,000 personal slush fund. Unbelievably he said: ‘I know nothing about what he [the questioner] is talking about.’ He might as well have said "I take the Fifth!". I don't know about you, but it reminded me of Manuel from Fawlty Towers.

Harriet Harman - Crashed her car whilst talking on her mobile?

Harriet Harman - Crashed her car whilst talking on her mobile? You couldn't make it up could you? Apparently the investigation was delayed to allow her to attend the party conference.

From the Mail

:Harriet Harman is being investigated by police after allegedly leaving the scene of an accident in which she drove into a parked car while talking on her mobile phone.

Ms Harman, Labour's deputy leader, is said to have stopped briefly after the crash, but witnesses say she drove off without leaving her insurance or registration details – an offence carrying a possible six-month jail term.

When a witness approached her car, the MP is said to have wound down her window and said simply: 'I'm Harriet Harman - you know where you can get hold of me.'

According to police sources, Ms Harman is being investigated for driving without due care and attention, driving while illegally using a mobile phone and failing to stop after an accident, the most serious of the three offences.

I'm sorry, but I can't help finding this very very funny. Full story HERE.

Commons pay rise - this has got to stop.

From the BBC:

The House of Commons has awarded significant pay rises to its senior officials, including some of those who oversaw the MPs' expenses scandal.

Annual accounts just released show that the Clerk to the House, Malcolm Jack, received a rise of about 11%, meaning he now earns more than Gordon Brown.

Andrew Walker, who ran the Fees Office which administered expenses, received a rise of about 8%.

His salary rose from a band of £115,000 - £120,000 to £125,000 - £130,000.

Where did I put my flaming torch and effing pitchfork?

Why disgraced MPs are hanging on for General Election.

There's a good reason that those MPs caught getting inventive with our money are not stepping down immediately. If they hang on until the General election they get a nice big fat pay-off. It makes me sick. Here is a list compiled by the BBC indicating how much the troughing sods will get for hanging on:

And don't forget we are still paying them both salary and expenses for the next year.

Elliot Morely - If we could sack you, you'd be gone already.

This is how I see the Elliot Morley expense claim situation:

If for some strange reason, I had a contract with my employer stating that they would pay my mortgage for me, I would be a very lucky chap. However if I continued to take my monthly mortgage payment (£16,000 for mortgage interest over 18 months) from my employer after said mortgage was paid off (and they found out) then I would be a very sacked chap - and possibly locked up for fraud.

No amount of pleading that it was down to "sloppy accounting" would get me off the hook. Morley is another MP to be added to my list of those who should sacked immediately and sent through the doors of Westminster with a toe up their arse.

UPDATE: Archbishop Cranmer asks: How should MPs address ‘dishonourable’ members?

UPDATE 2: @ 20:18 Morely is stepping down at the General Election. Not good enough - he should be going now.

Police called in on MPs expenses. Bunch of crooks

Can you believe it? The police are to be called in to investigate the theft of data that shows how MPs have been stealing from us.

Do you know why the current expenses system does not work?

I'll tell you: It was set up on the understanding that honest people would be operating under it.

How can the MPs expenses system be made to work?

I'll also answer that for you: By bringing in a system that assumes that dishonest people will be operating under it.

As I said in my earlier post: Expense claim systems don't rob the taxpayer, politicians do. Gordon Brown is claiming that the system is to blame. He's wrong, the system would be perfect if it wasn't for the corrupt sods using it. It's like being told that it's your fault for being burgled because even though you locked all your doors and windows, you failed to put the alarm on. What's a poor burglar to do?

This is just another example of how out of touch Gordon Brown is with the people. If he had even one ounce of sense, he would have done all he could to stop the police being called in. Clown.

Expense claim systems don't rob the taxpayer, politicians do.

It's bad news when the people who are supposed to be the nation's moral guides are robbing the taxpayer blind. It's worse when they say that they only ripped us off because the system was open to abuse. When someone is shot, do the police arrest the gun? Remember: "Guns don't kill people, people kill people"

Are some Labour MPs suicidal over dodgy expenses?

There is a story running in today's Daily Mail claiming that some Labour MPs are on "Suicide watch". The Mail claims that a source says the MPs fear that they will be exposed as fraudsters and adulterers when expense receipts are published in July. I'll let you read the full sickening story HERE yourself.

The question I want answered is this: If the Whips are putting MPs on "Suicide watch" and there are many rumours of Ministers being forced to resign when the receipts are published, then why are these people still in a job? It is more than obvious that the Whips and Gordon Brown know about their dodgy colleagues' activities. So why are they being allowed to take the taxpayers money?

Will No10 claim they knew nothing about their crooked and adulterous MPs? If they do, then I think we can say that they will be lying through their teeth. If Gordon Brown and his Whips know about dirty MPs then I want to know who they are NOW. I don't want them to receive a single penny more of my money. I do not want to wait until July for these despicable people to lose their jobs.

And if Gordon Brown knows about these people, then he should be sacking them immediately, not waiting until the public find out. If he does not sack them now, then he is unfit to be Prime Minister and should resign today.

Database - Jacqui Smith thinks it's OK to spy on us.

Forget civil liberties. Jacqui Smith believes that creating a mass database containing all of our electronic communication is a great idea. Her justification is that the database will make it easier for police and the security services to investigate crime and terrorism. And that's true. However, giving the police guns, and then allowing them to shoot anyone they think could be breaking the law would also make their job a lot easier, but that is clearly not the right thing to do.

Our communication details are already held by individual companies for 12 months, and they are available to the police on request. But that is not the same as a mass database under the control of the government. This is a massive step in the wrong direction. The next step in that direction would be to start recording the contents of our communications without having to worry about those silly civil liberty thingies.

Former Director of Public Prosecutions Sir Ken Macdonald said:

"This database would be an unimaginable hell house of personal private information. It would be a complete read-out of every citizen's life in the most intimate and demeaning detail."

Not only is this database an injury to our civil liberties, it will also be incredibly costly if this government's track record is anything to go by. Can you believe that at a time when we are all going to struggle, our idiotic government wants to waste billions of pounds of OUR money to spy on us? - They are totally clueless.

Gordon Brown expects ministerial resignations over expenses.

Just when you thought that it couldn't get much worse for Labour, this article appears in the Mail on Sunday:

'We are braced for a rash of ministerial resignations when they [expenses receipts] come out in July,’ said a Labour Whip.

Mark this day! It could be the day that Liberty died.

Citizens of Britain - be afraid - be very afraid. Today could be the day that historians will point to and say "That was the day that Liberty died."

I didn't know this was happening, many of you probably didn't know this was happening, but what is really disturbing is that your MP probably didn't know this was happening.

From the Guardian's Henry Porter:

Today, an EU directive comes into force which will compel all internet service providers to retain information from all emails and website visits. Data from phone calls and text messages will also be stored and made available to the government, its agencies and local authorities. Having seen how local officials have abused anti-terrorist laws, it's not hard to imagine the damage to privacy that will ensure.

These powers were brought in by a statutory instrument and so were not debated by either house. The accepted view is that the Home Office now bypasses parliament by lobbying Europe directly in the knowledge that the measures they desire will go undebated and unscrutinised, then be smuggled into British law as a European directive.

It is difficult to think of anything that makes the House of Commons look more feckless or more redundant (Full Story).

I don't know about you, but I find this truly frightening. Without my permission, or the agreement of my MP, my Liberty has been severely damaged today.

What Democracy? What representation? What Freedom?

Chris Grayling - The DNA database is illegal.

A letter from Chris Grayling to Jacqui Smith:

Dear Jacqui

I am writing to you concerning the continued use of the DNA database to store the data of innocent people. As you will be aware, this practice is now illegal following the recent ruling by the European Court. I urge you to stop this practice immediately.

We are today announcing our alternative proposal for the management of the database. The proposals would have the effect of implementing the Scottish system across the UK, with a few minor modifications. This framework is compliant with current law.

I strongly urge you to implement these proposals immediately. It is not acceptable for the Government to be continuing with the old regime when it has been ruled illegal. It is also contrary to the rules of natural justice in the UK, which have always been founded on the principle that you are innocent until proven guilty. There can be no justification for treating the DNA of the innocent in the same way as the DNA of the guilty.

This is not a process that requires long consultation, and a spell in the long grass. It can and should happen immediately.

I urge you to deal with this issue now, and not to leave the existing system in place for any longer.

Yours sincerely

Chris Grayling

Become an MP for the power or the Money? Hoon?

The title of this post doesn't give the other option that until recently (the last decade or so) would come out on top - that being - duty. Being an MP used to be about duty, about serving your country and representing your fellow countrymen. Now it has become very clear that many are in it purely for the money, and some are in it for the sex that power brings. MPs of old, as a rule, had previous life experience that suited power, whether it be from business or from the military. Now take a look at today's cabinet; a bunch of ex solicitors, lecturers, researchers and career politicians.

Gordon Brown - Lecturer
Paul Murphy - Lecturer
John Hutton - Lecturer
Lord Mandelson - Career Politician
David Miliband - Career Politician
Jim Murphy - Career Politician
Douglas Alexander - Career Politician
Ed Miliband - Career Politician
John Denham - Career Politician
Jack Straw - Barrister
Alistair Darling - Solicitor
Hazel Blears - Solicitor
Harriet Harman - Solicitor
Geoff Hoon - Lecturer/Barrister
James Purnell - Researcher
Shaun Woodward - Researcher
Andy Burnham - Researcher
Yvette Cooper - Researcher
Jacqui Smith - Teacher
Alan Johnson - Postman
Hilary Benn - Unionist
Ed Balls - Journalist

I would guess that the reason why this cabinet has been so slow to help out our businessmen and women is down to the fact that none of them have much (if any) business experience. They've made plenty of promises, but so far nothing real appears to be happening while businesses go to the wall. What set me off this morning was the news of another Labour minister (Geoff Hoon) with his snout deep in the trough.

Liberal Democrat MP Norman Baker, hits this whole expenses fiasco nail on its head:

"It's quite clearly an improper use of taxpayers' money and it is not sufficient for Geoff Hoon to say he was within the rules. Being within the rules and behaving ethically are not the same thing, unfortunately."

I honestly believe that Labour are desperate to hang on to power at all costs. Otherwise they are going to have to find real jobs and earn their own money - instead of helping themselves to ours.

UPDATE: Shadow Cabinet previous careers.

Does Jacqui Smith's hubby have an orange penis?

Richard Timney goes into the doctors and shows the GP his bright orange penis. The Doctor is puzzled and asks Richard: "Does anyone in your family have a similar condition?" Richard says: "No." "Well" the doctor says "Do you handle any chemicals at work?" - "No, I don't work." says Richard. "Well what do you do?" asks the doctor. "Well I usually sit at home watching porn and eating Wotsits."

Jacqui Smith claimed for TV porn on expenses?

Jacqui Smith is having to pay back money she claimed for her pay-for-view TV. What I like is the fact that two "Adult films" were included as part of the expenses claim. Jacqui wasn't in at the time the pornos were viewed - naughty naughty hubby! - must be all that time Jacqui is supposedly spending at her sister's house.

On a more serious note Jacqui Smith MUST be sacked for this fraudulent expense claim. Let me explain why: during my time in the Royal Navy, we were allowed to claim a few trips home on expenses, either the rail fare, or we could claim the petrol money back. If at any time your claim did not match the actual journey undertaken, then you were immediately dishonourably discharged from the service - first offence - zero tolerance - NO IFS - NO BUTS.

Jacqui should not resign - she MUST be sacked.

Not only that, but will man hater Harriet say?

UPDATE: Apparently the naughty films were: Confessions of an MP, and Screwing Joe public.

This video of the hubby apologising is just embarrassing.

Tony McNulty - 11 miles? 11 miles? 11 MILES!!!

How the hell can Tony McNulty claim second home allowance for an house that is only 11 bloody miles from Westminster, and unbelievably only 8 miles from his main residence? The cheeky, cheeky bast*rd. If Labour's employment minister had any decency he would be looking for other employment himself. McNulty's spokesman pushed out the usual rubbish to the press: "Tony is completely compliant with all the regulations around the allowances for second homes.. blah, blah, blah......"

Well he may be compliant with the bloody regulations, but he is without doubt twisting the rules as far as they will go. What McNulty has done is as good as steal from the taxpayer.

McNulty - I want my money back you cheating scumbag!

You may not be surprised to find out that McNulty Voted very strongly against a transparent Parliament.