The greatest danger facing the Conservatives
Dear Giles Chichester,
As I’m sure you have noticed, the Conservative Party has clearly benefited from the demise of the Labour government. However, in order to make themselves electable, the Conservatives must do two things: 1. Release a sensible and affordable set of policies over the next two years; 2. Not do anything really stupid. While number 1 on the list is probably out of your hands, that doesn’t give you an excuse to do something really stupid – like mysteriously paying your family firm almost £500,000 out of your MEP expenses.
I would have thought that the Derek Conway saga was enough to teach you and every other MP and MEP that the public react very badly when politicians cheat the system and steal money from taxpayers, but obviously you weren’t paying attention. This situation is painfully ironic given that David Cameron appointed you to ‘clean up’ the use of MEP allowances following Derek Conway’s actions. To suggest that your family firm has provided secretarial work worth £445,000 means that either your family is the best set of secretaries in the world or you are defrauding the system. With annual payments between £23,057 to £52,745 making their way to your firm (even though it was making a loss at the time) I really can’t help but be a little suspicious about what has been happening. To make things worse, your family firm paid £40,000 rent between 1996 and 2003 for office space at St James’s Place in London, which just happens to be your home address.
I really hope this matter is dealt with swiftly and decisively. If you are found to have done nothing wrong, I am happy to support you and your political activities. If you are found to be screwing taxpayers and MEP expenses, I hope your political career falls apart and you are thrown to the media lions, never to be seen again in public life.
Yours sincerely,
A.Tory
Witanagemot Blogs
That’s why only about 60% of voters bother to turn up at elections.
We need total transparency. In Brussels and Westminster!
(spot the irony)
As I understand it, the turnout is even lower for MEP elections – mostly because people have no idea who MEP’s are and what they do (a question I often ask myself).
The more that voters see corruption, incompetence or funds being wasted, the harder it will be to convince them to turn up at the ballot box. I for one find it hard to begrudge low voter turnout given the pathetic state of democracy in the UK and especially in the EU.
Don’t give a hoot about the EU.
Democracy begins at home!