Letters From A Tory Daily views on British politics and the Conservative Party from a centre-right thinker who writes letters on his blog to politicians, journalists and many others.

Dear Michael Martin,

I wrote a suitably foul-tempered letter to Harriet Harman yesterday when she tried to bury bad news on the u-turn performed by the government with regard to MPs’ expenses.  Having since studied the newly updated Green Book, which explains to MPs what they can and cannot claim for, I am truly sickened by the abuse and fraudelent behaviour that is not only allowed but even encouraged in some cases.  As the Green Book explains, in July 1995 the House of Commons agreed to adopt the ‘Code of Conduct for Members of Parliament’ which was ”based on concepts of selflessness, integrity, objectivity, accountability, openness, honesty and leadership …[and] when making claims against parliamentary allowances, Members must adhere to these principles.”  These principles include, among others: 

• “claims must only be made for expenditure that it was necessary for a Member to incur to ensure that he or she could properly perform his or her parliamentary duties”
• “Members must ensure that claims do not give rise to, or give the appearance of giving rise to, an improper personal financial benefit to themselves or anyone else”
• “Members are committed to openness about what expenditure has been incurred and for what purposes”
• “Individual Members take personal responsibility for all expenses incurred, for making claims and for keeping records, even if the administration of claims is delegated by them to others”
• “the requirement of ensuring value for money is central in claiming for accommodation, goods or services (members should avoid purchases which could be seen as extravagant or luxurious)”

While I agree with absolutely every single one of them, I wonder how the behaviour of some MPs fits with these noble aims.  When Derek Conway defrauded the taxpayer or when Gordon Brown charged us £372 for Sky TV or when Tony Blair got the taxpayer to fund his £11,200 kitcken or when Barbara Follett made us pay over £1,600 for her window cleaning or when John Prescott screwed us for £312 to fit ‘mock Tudor’ boards to the front of his house and grabbed £3,200 for food, I wonder where these principles were.  The following page in the Green Book even recommended that MPs ask themselves certain questions before making expenses claims, such as “Could the claim in any way damage the reputation of Parliament or its Members?” and “How comfortable do I feel with the knowledge that my claim will be available to the public under Freedom of Information?” (the latter being particularly ironic after what you and Harriet have decided).  Anyway, back to the Green Book.  I have read this document cover to cover and have dug up the following information:

ACCOMMODATION ALLOWANCE – this is designed to reimburse MPs for additional expenses “necessarily incurred in staying overnight away from their main home for the purpose of performing their parliamentary duties.”  If only.  Under this allowance, MPs can claim for the “increase to mortgage costs (interest only) to pay for refurbishments” (i.e. remortgage their property to pay for a nice extension and get the taxpayer to help pay for it).  It also covers sofa, chairs, tables, beds, crockery, cutlery, telephones, televisions, decoration, insurance, cleaning, council tax, service charges, all utility bills and legal expenses associated with buying a home (including stamp duty).  MPs can also now claim £25 for every night that they stay away from their main residence on ‘parliamentary business’, which has not been explained or justified by anyone.

ADMINISTRATION AND OFFICE COSTS – this is intended to ”provide for facilities, equipment, supplies and services for Members and their staff.”  This includes the usual stuff such as photocopiers, stationery, telephones and office furniture.  That said, members can claim for petty cash up to £50 a month without producing receipts.  More importantly, why on earth is the taxpayer continually funding whatever new equipment any MP wants to buy at any point during their time in office?  Any MP can splash out on a brand new computer or photocopier, even if there isn’t anything wrong with their current one, all courtesy of the taxpayer.  MPs can even claim for “recruitment expenses” if they’re too lazy to employ their own staff and can also commission other people to do some work whenever they want, all paid for by us.

STAFF COSTS – not unsurprisingly, this allowance covers the “provision of staff to help you perform your parliamentary duties”.  Astonishingly, this includes making “additional pension contributions” to staff (works out nicely if MPs employ their spouses or children) and you can even use this to pay “contributions to private healthcare schemes”.  No doubt the Labour cabinet members gave up on the NHS a long time ago while the rest of us sufffered.  MPs needn’t worry too much about pensions, though, seeing as the Department of Resources in Parliament already “make regular payments from central funds, equivalent to 10% of [your staff's] salary, to the Portcullis Pension Plan”.  So glad that while thousands of people are losing their jobs every day, your gold-plated pensions stay in tact and so do those of your employees.  In addition, if you or any other MP acts illegally when it comes to a dispute with an employee, no need to worry – the taxpayer will cover “settlements made at tribunals and court hearings” out of this allowance.  On the other hand, if you really like an employee you can give them a bonus of up to 15% of their salary without providing any justification whatsoever!

TRAVEL COSTS – MPs can claim for “reasonable travel and associated costs”, but the guidelines are unbelievably slack.  Every MP can claim “up to three return visits a year to the national parliament of Council of Europe member states …[and] for each visit, Members may claim travel, up to the cost of a business class airfare to the relevant destination and a maximum of two nights subsistence at the Civil Service Class A rate”.  Tough life, isn’t it.  Have three business class jollies to Europe a year paid for by the taxpayer and stay in a plush hotel for two nights with all your costs covered.  Don’t worry about leaving the family behind because they have their own little ruse going on.  “Spouses and civil partners are entitled to up to 30 single journeys each year between London and the constituency or the Member’s main home” and MPs’ children can also claim 30 single journeys every year back and forth to London, meaning that families can travel to London 15 times a year courtesy of the taxpayer irrespective of whether they actually see a single MP during their trip.  In the section inexplicably titled ‘Value for Money’ states that “there is no restriction on the class of travel for Members” and “season tickets may be purchased for allowable journyes if Members are satisfied that value for money is being achieved”, which of course would never be taken advantage of if someone works in central London.

COMMUNICATIONS ALLOWANCE – designed to help MPs “communicate proactively with their constituents about their work”, this allowance can be wasted in spectacular fashion.  Several MPs have already been caught breaking the rules, and even if they hadn’t been it is still a mystery as to why the taxpayer should fund MP websites (including the design and maintenance) and Freepost facilities, pay for business cards and also pay for any new equipment that an MP wants to buy to help him ‘communicate’.  Actually, it’s not a mystery – this allowance is intended to help incumbent Labour MPs hold onto their seats and keep out the Conservative PPCs.

HOUSE STATIONERY AND POSTAGE – fairly self-explanatory.  Lots of pre-paid envelopes and paper with the pretty House of Commons symbol on it.  Probably costs a fortune.  It’s quite hard to abuse this expense, but only because there was a crackdown after Labour MP Siobhan McDonagh blew tens of thousands of pounds of taxpayers money through this expense.

As if the above information wasn’t enough to make me want to explode with rage, MPs are also entitled to a ‘Resettlement Grant’, which “may be claimed to assist former Members with the costs of adjusting to non-Parliamentary life”.  The changes that MPs must make to their current Green Book are also intruiging.  For example, the new Green Book refers to “reasonable” parking charges as the reference to “wholly, necessarily and exclusively” charges has been omitted, which makes it considerably easier to claim under the Travel allowance.

So there you have it.  The decision by you and Harriet to prevent the public from learning how MPs spend our taxes is a scandal in itself.  A closer inspection of the rules for MP expenses, as outlined above, provides even more reason for us to be able to scrutinise what you claim on expenses and why you claim it.  It is nothing short of a national disgrace that MPs can get away with charging the taxpayer for such lavish behaviour and lifestyles and while not every MP takes advantage of the system, I bet you a hell of a lot of them do – including you.

Yours contemptfully,

A.Tory