Danny Alexander may well have the record for the shortest time spent as a Secretary of State for Scotland; however it is possible that his tenure of the post of Chief Secretary at the Treasury will be even shorter.
It appears that Mr Alexander, whilst not having broken any laws (no pun intended), has been morally rather less than we would have hoped for in a Cabinet minister concerning his tax affairs.
According to the Daily Telegraph, which now sees its mission as the cleaning up of politics and the outing of anyone who has been less than 100%, our Danny has been using that old ploy of first home to the tax people (so no capital gains tax) and second home to the Commons, (so oodles of expenses to do the place up so that it could be sold at a vast profit). Read all about it here.
The tax avoidance, whilst technically not illegal, puts him in the same sort of situation as the deeply unlikeable Hazel Blears, who when caught red handed, owing around £13,000 to the Inland Revenue, paid up with great ceremony waving her cheque and grinning like she was some sort of heroine.
What I find deeply concerning is that David and Nick don’t seem to have looked very far into the financial affairs of their chief secretaries. Nor does the Liberal Whips Office seem to have been particularly smart over it.
Nick Clegg very specifically said that that no Lib Dem MP profited from the expenses system. It seems that he didn’t actually check that fact before he made the statement.
I am not calling for his resignation, but it if it were me, I’d be gone by now out of sheer embarrassment!
It appears that Mr Alexander, whilst not having broken any laws (no pun intended), has been morally rather less than we would have hoped for in a Cabinet minister concerning his tax affairs.
According to the Daily Telegraph, which now sees its mission as the cleaning up of politics and the outing of anyone who has been less than 100%, our Danny has been using that old ploy of first home to the tax people (so no capital gains tax) and second home to the Commons, (so oodles of expenses to do the place up so that it could be sold at a vast profit). Read all about it here.
The tax avoidance, whilst technically not illegal, puts him in the same sort of situation as the deeply unlikeable Hazel Blears, who when caught red handed, owing around £13,000 to the Inland Revenue, paid up with great ceremony waving her cheque and grinning like she was some sort of heroine.
What I find deeply concerning is that David and Nick don’t seem to have looked very far into the financial affairs of their chief secretaries. Nor does the Liberal Whips Office seem to have been particularly smart over it.
Nick Clegg very specifically said that that no Lib Dem MP profited from the expenses system. It seems that he didn’t actually check that fact before he made the statement.
I am not calling for his resignation, but it if it were me, I’d be gone by now out of sheer embarrassment!
How did Laws think that paying this £40k in rent to his, ahem..... rent boy, was keeping his sex life private? And why do THEY get to call theft a mistake? If it is benefits or cigarettes you or I nick you get banged up for theft or fraud and get awarded a criminal record.
ReplyDeleteYeah, benefit fraud is benefit fraud, until someone in parliament does it, then it's a mistake. Or if it's someone in the Lords, it's not even that.
ReplyDeleteGeorge Osborne himself was guilty of overcharging for something, and it was put down as an accounting error. Just what you want from the man in charge of the country's finances.
That said we had to pay for a tax accountant for Alistair Darling so that he could pay as little as possible tax.... WHAT!?!?!?
LOL not another one Tris. They will be falling like a domino rally. Yes I also remember Glegg saying that none of his MP's had profited from the expenses before and during the election and in the 3 leaders debate he painted his own party as almost whiter than white.
ReplyDeleteI suspect David Mundell is leaking all this info to the papers because he is desperate to become Scottish Secretary but he might be in for a long wait as there are 9 Scottish Lib MP's in front of him.
LOL Allan...
ReplyDelete...and 12 Lords,7 cats and a dog.....
Woof woof!
ReplyDeleteNo Allan, you can't be Scottish Secretary till it's your turn... sometime next week, I should imagine....
ReplyDeleteI think Michael Moore would be a good Chief Sec to the Treasury. I don't know who he is but then I'd never heard of Alexander either and he was highly recommended by the coalition leadership so must have been good.
ReplyDeleteI give you Ming Campbell as Scottish Secretary.
This like playing Mornington Crescent. Anyone ever play that as kids ?
It's becoming a farce.
ReplyDeleteThey are starting to look like fools.
I'm starting to think that in 6 months we will ahve had another election, and their 'new politics' will be old history.
Mornington Crescent was that thing they played on "I'm sorry I haven't a clue"... and I never had a clue as to what that was all about, except Humph Littleton was as dry as a stick with his humour....
ReplyDeletetris
ReplyDeleteI think it was on that show. You had to keep a narrative going by making sure each persons statement was vaguely related to the previous statement. It could be as convoluted as you liked but your street directions or whatever had to have a link. The first to arrive at Mornington Crescent won the game.
Gotcha mate....
ReplyDeleteI thought they just made it up as they went along.
I wonder if our MPs' would be any good as 'Junk shot'. I saw it on telly. They forced golf balls and old tyres (sic) into the oil pipe in the Gulf of Mexico in order to try and block it and stop the leak. But sadly it failed. Imagine 650 Mps and all the peers fired into the wellhead under pressure ? That would stem the flow quickly and restore Britains affections in the eyes of the American citizens. No more troughers and the ocean saved. Win Win situation I think.
ReplyDeleteJust one small problem..... shit floats.
ReplyDeleteThat's true.
ReplyDeleteThere's one thing no one has mentioned yet and something I've done during my plumbing adventures. When the pipe is leaking you just go below the leak and squash the pipe flat. It works when there's water in the pipe. Maybe the oil pressure is too high or something.
Jeez, I wonder why they never thought of that!!!??? <:¬)
ReplyDeleteProbably a 4 year degree course and 30 years experience over my internet plumbing course ?
ReplyDeleteI'd get on the phone to BP (Better Plumbers) then....
ReplyDeleteDynorod would have sorted this leak out weeks ago !
ReplyDeleteAye they would too.
ReplyDeletePoor Danny Champion of the World. I'm beggining to think this is all a Tory plot to keep the Lib Dems on the back foot so that they can sneak past their agenda while the Lib Dems are navel gazing.
ReplyDeleteYou could have a point there Munguin. I wouldn't put anything past politicians.
ReplyDelete