Most of the MP's featured in the recent "Sunday Times", "Mail on Sunday" and "Evening Standard" articles with their snouts in the trough were Labour MP's including most notably Alan and Ann Keen, Barbara Follett, Michael Martin, Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, Margaret Beckett and John Prescott.Tony Blair for example claimed on a £90,000 mortgage on his consitituency home which his wife Cherie said that they had bought for £30,000.Gordon Brown claimed for the mortgage on a flat in London while he was living in a taxpayer funded flat in Downing Street.Margaret Beckett claimed more than £19,000 per year in housing expenses even though she was provided with a taxpayer funded home in London and had no mortgage on her Derby home.In contrast, David Cameron voluntarily made his expenses public. Given the fact that David Cameron, George Osborne and William Hague all represent constituencies well outside London, they are entitled to an Additional Cost Allowances for second homes. In general there has been no controversy regarding their expenses.Those of us who have campaigned for the Keens' expenses to be made public are quite honestly surprised by the extent of their greed now that the details of their claims have been made public. We long assumed that they were claiming taxpayers' money to fund a second home in Central London but we had no idea that they would also have the gall to claim £867.57 in life insurance premiums every month as well.It does appear to be a massive problem for the Labour Party- nationally and locally.When is the local Labour Party going to condemn the Keens for their unprincipled behaviour and deselect them?
David Giles ● 6737d