Conservative MEPs lead the way in Europe with publication of their expenses

Tory MEPs have this morning published their expenses for the last quarter of 2008.

Timothy Kirkhope MEP comments:

“Conservative MEPs are the first British delegation in the European Parliament to voluntarily publish details of our allowances and expenses. I hope that other parties will follow now that we have led the way.  We now have in place a system that ensures greater openness and transparency, and goes significantly beyond the rules set down by the European Parliament."

The Tory delegation (with quite a bit of encouragement from David Cameron) is to be congratulated for leading the way on transparency.

Via this link you can inspect all MEPs' recent expenses and the names of their staffers (including family members employed).

Unlike all other retiring Tory MEPs Christopher Beazley has not published his expenses, however.  Mr Beazley is on 'defection watch'.  It is feared that this ardent Europhile might defect closer to June's European Elections.

More worryingly the UUP MEP Jim Nicholson hasn't declared either.  He is now supposed to be a de facto member of the Tory delegation and he needs to be transparent too.  A job for Owen Paterson?

Tim Montgomerie

Comments

[michael mcgough]

It would be much more informative were there to be comparative figures for the previous year so that we might acknowledge the reduction in excess .

As for Beazley being on 'defection watch',who would want him?Perhaps the LibDems with only one MEP ,Duff (by name and nature)in the Eastern Counties feel a sitting Mep defector may give them a few votes more to lift them fom 4th position behind Labour's 3rd, hic,hic

[Westminster Wolf]

Good stuff.

The party has done just about enough now to protect it against sleazy MEps attacks.

[Conand]

Well done to all who have published. They must keep their expenses as low as possible. The party activists and members are watching.

[The Bishop swine]

Excellent this sends exactly the right message to the public. We must fight greed,and corruption at ever opportunity.

Those who refuse to publish should be viewed as expendable. I have some sympathy for Jim after all he isn't a Conservative MEP, but you would think that he would embrace this opportunity to reassure his own electorate that he is one of the good guy's. So Jim I think it's in your best intrest to declare but of course its a matter for your Party to thrash out.

[ex-UKIP member]

Michael McGough 10.30 is a UKIP activist. He is on the Eastern Region UKIP MEP list.

He also lied and said he was the PPC for Harlow.

Let us remind ourselves what Nigel Farage of UKIP claimed:-

The programme was Meridian TV's 'Seven Days', the reporter Phil Hornby, and the broadcast was from Strasbourg on 25 July 1999.

quote

Phil Hornby: Is there something, Nigel Farage, a touch hypocritical about you flying out on these free flights and enjoying the restaurants and so on of the parliament here, and enjoyng the gravy train, so-called, life of an MEP? How do you square that circle?

Nigel Farage: You will remember that right through (the 1999 Euro campaign) that we said we are not going on the gravy train; that we are the only people who are intending, annually, to publish so that the public can inspect them, our expense accounts, our allowance accounts, and the excess that we get - the excess that we are forced to take - particularly on travelling allowances, we are going to be putting into a trust fund and that money will be used to help victims of the European Union in our country, so I do reject the allegation that we're on the gravy train and there's certainly no chance of the three of us going native.

ends

10 years on where are UKIP MEP expenses?

[ex-UKIP member]

Nigel Farage MEP Leader of UKIP The Times 13 Dec 2002

"They said I was defrauding European taxpayers, which I thought was delightfully upside down," a gleeful Nigel Farage says. He explains that, with Ryanair flying from Stansted to Strasbourg, "they are giving me £700 for a trip that's costing me £40".

[Peter Franks]

Well, Tories can't exactly claim to be trailbazers on this issue! And the European Parliament is set to bring in greater transparency anyway. Though, unfortuneately, sitting MEPs will be allowed to employ family members after the elections, if reelected (no thanks to the Tory MEPs).

The publication of the expenses in the run up to the elections is not surprising as it comes after last year's Tory MEP scandals.

Last June, Cameron had to sack the Tory leader in Europe, Giles Chichester MEP, after it was revealed that he had funnelled £445,000 of his European parliament expenses into a family business in which he and his wife are sole directors. He remained a Tory MEP though.

Two days later, Cameron had to sack another senior Tory MEP, Den Dover, after it became clear he had be doing a similar thing, paying his wife and daughter £750,000 for work. Unlike Chichester, he didn't remain a Tory MEP.

(Have either Tories paid back the EU public money they took?)

It is astonishing that over half of Tory MEPs STILL employ family members.

How on earth does Tory Indra Deva MEP need to pay his wife between £30,000 - £39,999 and employ a further 8 people.

Other MEPs from the same region, like Sharon Bolwes (South East) gets by with 5 members of staff, and that's without employing a family member (She's a Lib Dem. All the other South East Tory MEPs employ family members)

Here's the full list of the 16/27 Tory MEPs who employ family members and how much they are paid:

Nirj Deva (South East): £30,000 - £39,999, and has 8 other members of staff!
Richard Ashworth (South East): £20,000 - £29,999

John Bowis (London): £30,000 - £35,000
Syed Kamall (London): £20,000 - £29,999. He has a futher 8 members of staff!
Charles Tannock (London): £30,000 - £39,999

Martin Callanan (North East): £0 - £10,000

David Sumberg (North West): £30,000 - £39,999
Sir Robert Atkins - £30,000 - £39,999 (North West)

Giles Chichester (South West): £10,000 - £19,999
Neil Parish (South West): £10,000 - £19,999

Chris Heaton-Harris (East Midlands): £10,000 - £19,999. He has a further 9 other members of staff!
Roger Helmer (East Midlands): £10,000 - £19,999

Malcolm Harbour (West Midlands): £20,000 - £29,999
Philip Bushill-Matthews (West Midlands): 20,000 - £29,999

Timothy Kirkhope (Yorkshire and the Humber): £20,000 - £29,999

Geoffrey Van Orden (Eastern): £10,000 - £19,999

Of course there are some MEPs in other parties, and counterparts in Westminster, who also employ family members.

But Tory MEPs cannot claim to be leading the way for greater transparency in MEP expenses, especially if they block reform (eg. not supporting efforts to abolish the practice of employing family members)

[BNP watch]

The ex-UKIP members who post anti-Farage comments tend to have defected to, or are working for, the BNP. Several are former employees who were sacked for incompetence and aspiring MEP candidates who want to join the gravy train.

[Western Star]

Frankly don't see the problem with employing family members as long as they do a full day's work for a full day's pay. Many of the wives are full time PAs and it surely makes sense for them to organise their husbands' weekend diaries?

[Eveleigh]

Western Star, I agree with you. Why should there be a presumption that employing a family member is corrupt? I canot see any justification for discriminating against a family member.

[dogface]

OT, but I just heard a radio 4 report of Brown's latest Davos witterings, in which he appears to admit (a) he didn't know what was going on and (b) doesn't know what to do about it. Is this the long-awaited mea culpa?

[Eveleigh]

Western Star, I agree with you. Why should there be a presumption that employing a family member is corrupt? I canot see any justification for discriminating against a family member.

[The Bishop swine]

"The ex-UKIP members who post anti-Farage comments tend to have defected to, or are working for, the BNP. Several are former employees who were sacked for incompetence and aspiring MEP candidates who want to join the gravy train."

Maybe the most radical have defected to the BNP and that's a blessing as we know who they are. The Tory party will never ever be a National Socialist party but that doesn't mean it has not got the balls to be For Britain. Once Project Dave is under way there will be no need for either UkIP or BNP, we will simply make you eat your arguments. Lets have not doubt the only Right of centre party that can win is the Conservative party and the only party worth supporting and agitating for is the Conservative and Unionist party of Great Britain.

[Tick,tock,urin4ashock]

"10 years on where are UKIP MEP expenses?2

where are the Tories,except since sept 2008--and we only know this because of the largesse of the mapmaker and the porno star's namesake.

[Sally Roberts]

I was just thinking how nice it was that this was a sensible debate and then...lo and behold...along comes a troll!

[Pete Tilbury]

Would the various UKIP trolls please take your tedious civil war somewhere else.

I know that UKIP are about to split in half into pro and anti Nigel Farage groups but please keep these sort of pathetic squabbles amongst yourselves.

Conservative MEPs have published their expenses. Your Leader Nigel promised that UKIP MEPs would do this ten years ago so don't come here and lecture us.

As for the comments above coming from the BNP they are from newspapers and are quotes from your Leader.

Now go away back to your dark corner with your green crayons and laminated Farage picture.

[michael mcgough]

Four months expenses is hardly transparency as we come to the end of a sixty month term.

[Karen]

Mr McGough I understand from a post above that you are on the UKIP Eastern list as a UKIP MEP.

Would you give an assurance that if elected as a UKIP MEP you will publish your expenses every year?

Also why have UKIP failed to publish any expenses for their MEPs when Nigel Farage promised this ten years ago?

[Therese]

Peter Franks @1637 states that "All the other South East Tory MEPs employ family members".
Not true - Dan Hannan and James Elles have not employed family members.

[David Matthews]

I fail to see any reasonable justification for MEPs (or any other politician) to get away with giving jobs to their family.

It hardly seems a fair recruitment practice.

Is this really 21st century politics, or more 19th century politics?

If half of Tory MEPs seem to manage ok without doing it, why can't the other half?

Tories always seem to bang on about the "EU gravy train" and "EU wasting our money", and yet they seem quite happy to cash in as much as they can at the same time.

(Am sure MEPs of other parties are equally guilty of this too).

[Sally Roberts]

"I fail to see any reasonable justification for MEPs (or any other politician) to get away with giving jobs to their family.

It hardly seems a fair recruitment practice."

I think probably the answer is to open up recruitment procedures so that "outsiders" are interviewed along with the family member and the decision is taken on the basis of skills, CV and presentation at interview as it is in other businesses when recruiting a secretary or PA. There is no doubt that some (though possibly not all) of the wives would still get through the process on this basis.

[Stop the gravy train]

Has Timothy Kirkhope been spotted in Victoria Station recently? The last time.....

[The Bishop Swine]

" think probably the answer is to open up recruitment procedures so that "outsiders" are interviewed along with the family member and the decision is taken on the basis of skills, CV and presentation at interview as it is in other businesses when recruiting a secretary or PA. There is no doubt that some (though possibly not all) of the wives would still get through the process on this basis."

For MP's, MEP's etc the only answer is to have a 3 person committee with the MP and at least one independent person (not a party member) to decide who the MP can legitimately employ. That will not exclude family members but will ensure that those who are taken on are indeed right for the job. What we don't want is lazy son's being paid a great deal for very little work in return. We also need regukar audits without fear or favour. Should help create a few Roles for people to gravitate to.

[Puzzled]

...the last time - what? I imagine he caught a train!

[Stop the gravy train]

Puzzled, the answer is well known in the European Parliament and would, if revealed, be very embarrassing - mwaaa!

[Puzzled]

or libellous?

[Deborah]

"Defection watch"?
Beazley should have been pushed years ago.

[Ross Warren]

Puzzled ! You quite right, Yes I have heard the malicious gossip, but can you find anyone willing to post the allegation here?

No and certainly not under their real names.

[Her in doors]

More often than not, people tend to gossip because they have nothing else better to say!

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