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Ann and Alan Keen's empty Brentford house features on the BBC

According to the BBC News website today:QUOTE FROM THE BBC NEWS WEBSITECouncil warns MP couple over home  The Keens face fresh questions over their expenses.Married Labour MPs Ann and Alan Keen have been given a month to stop their local council repossessing their home 10 miles from the House of Commons.The pair's expenses have been in the spotlight after they claimed £137,679 for a second home near Parliament. In a letter seen by the BBC, Hounslow Council tells the couple "urgent action" is needed to explain why their main home in Brentford is unoccupied. The Keens have not responded to BBC requests for a comment. In addition, the Keens are not thought to have responded to the council's letter, sent last week. A source at the council - which is run by the Conservatives - told the BBC that the Brentford property had remained empty for seven months. Andrew Dakers, the Liberal Democrat councillor for the area, who is also its prospective Parliamentary candidate, has told the BBC that the windows at the back of the Keens' main home were boarded up and that there was paint splashed on the inside of the upstairs windows. 'Deeply ironic'If the council does not get a satisfactory response from the Keens, it then has the power to issue an Empty Dwelling Management Order which would allow the council to take possession of the property and bring it back into use. Such orders became law five years ago in order to give local councils the power to take possession of empty properties and bring them back into use. The Conservatives' housing spokesman Grant Shapps said: "It is deeply ironic that the Labour government's powers to allow the state confiscation of private property will be utilised against absentee Labour members of Parliament." The couple's designated second home is a flat in Waterloo, two stops on the Jubilee underground line from Westminster. Alan Keen is MP for Feltham and Heston while Ann Keen is MP for neighbouring Brentford and Isleworth. According to the Daily Telegraph, the couple bought the central London flat in 2002 and have, between them, claimed more than £30,000 towards it in each of the past four years. The couple told the newspaper that under the second home allowance rules, married MPs were entitled to separately claim for a property that they share and live in together. UNQUOTE

David Giles ● 6181d4 Comments

Robin,This saga about the Keen's expenses has being going on for 5 years on this forum....and to get any clear explanations has been like playing table tennis against a blanket.All credit to the tolerance of locals and Forum members who have had to put up with this Keen's fiasco... whether they were breaking the rules or not.In 2005, Mr Alan King (and no doubt Mrs Keen too) clearly knew that the locals weren't happy about their seeming money grabbing activities from the Fees Office..and in particular being the 2 unique claimants for allowances and expenses on the SAME second property. It was never explained to us.At the Election Count meeting at the Civic Centre in May 2005, whilst Mr Keen was standing on the stage, Paul Fisherasked him about the "Expenses Scandal"  "I will explain it all ..soon" said Mr King.  They never did as far as I am concerned. Appalling gobbledegook on their individual Websites failed to explain much at all. AT LAST the subject and their "financial practices" are being exposed on all the national news channels today. Hooray...but sad for Brentford. What a let down.ITV News tonight said that their house in Brook Road South had been unoccupied for 7 months.  I, for sure, can tell you that it is longer than that..at least 9 months.  I was outside the house on Thursday 2nd October 2008 at 7pm..and noticed the fully laded and uncovered SKIP parked in Lateward Road..alongside their overgrown hedges..and in particular the lack of any skip lighting on that dark night.The skip, as I said was fully laden, with floorboards and other debris..suggesting major building activity there for a good month before 2nd October. So it's at least 9 months tell everyone..not 7.  I have no problem with that...except there is a local scandal going on...is there not?So one month later..in Novemeber 08... I decided to pay my first annual  membership fee to the local Conservatives....as it's the Keen's who I wish to see removed...and I'm sure I speak for many.

Jim Lawes ● 6181d

The real scandal is the way the Tory-led council is abusing its position to score party political points off two democratically elected MPs.That is not what a local authority is supposed to be there for. But then we are not dealing with a normal local authority. If I was a borough resident I would withold part of my council tax payment in protest. Then I would contact the press to tell them why.

Robin Taylor ● 6181d

Sometimes I have to chuckle to myself,the BBC gets battered for being politically biased by Left,Right and occasionaly Centre, until that is,they say something that is convenient with a persons own political stance,at which time what they've said becomes gospel.  Any critisism of ones own "team" is instantly denigrated as "lies and bias". It's a funny old World isn't it?  Whilst in no way am I a Keen supporter,I have to say that in their position,I'd be straight off to my lawyer to see what on Earth.. Hounslow Council were doing releasing/leaking a (presumably)personal letter,to the BBC.   I'd like to think that they wouldn't do that to an ordinary member of the public,though I suppose that wouldn't have too much political capital...it sucks a bit to me.

Tony Wood ● 6181d

Could this be the rod that will break Mrs Keen's political career ?

David Giles ● 6181d

And on Channel 4 News

Steve Taylor ● 6181d