Let sleeping hatred lie.

The British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly was in sombre mood in Donegal today.

It's the  only body in which MPs, TDs, and members of devolved administrations and the dependancies of all parties meet. These includ Ulster Unionists and Sinn Fein. Yesterday most of us drove past the barracks in Antrim where the two soldiers were murdered.  It is directly on the route from Belfast airport.

The Deputy Prime Minister or Tanaistre of the Republic Mary Coughlan said that the few on the fringes of society will not be allowed to  drag us back to the troubled past. The Assembly has a good record in bridging the gulf of misunderstanding between the British Parliament and Dail Eireann.

This Assembly is strengthening its links with the British Irish Council. The work of these two bodies is the unglamorous micro-surgery of building confidence between the nations and the  warring communities.

At the  afternoon session the authors of the reconciliation document Denis Bradley and Lord Eames said their recommendations for peace building could cost £300 million. The alternative could cost a £1billion. Both authors were irritated that their proposals to pay sums of money to the families of victims eclipsed their other recommendations.

Dennis said there was growing resentment from the police forces North and South that they are being lined up for blame for some of the worst of the atrocities. The recent Panorama programme 'did not come from nowhere'.

My own view is that the reconciliation process is premature. I believe that sleeping grief should be allowed to lie. They disturb sleeping hatreds.

It's over Jacqui

At noon yesterday, I did a brief interview on a Radio Wales on MPs expenses. Inevitably the subject of the Home Secretary's expenses arose.

Her claim that a bedroom in her sister's house is her main home is not credible.  She should have acknowledged that instead of hiding behind ridiculous Commons' rules. Equally vulnerable, Tony MacNulty had the gumption to acknowldge that his own claims were indefenisble. The public are rightly outraged. It's impossible to convince anyone of this, but so are non-London MPs.

The porn claim adds ridicule to outrage. There are no circumstances in which a claim for entertainment should be re-imbursed even if the films were Bambi or Harry Potter, or whether they were watched in first or second homes. It was certainly a foul-up. The claim with the receipt was sent in error. No sane person would risk putting in such a claim that was totally unjustified.  It's atrocious luck rather than greed for an extra £10.  But MPs are responsible for all claims. They are not paid unless claim forms have the MP's signature on them. This is definitely not a personal matter.

The widespread ridicule in yesterday's papers was cruel and exaggerated. But the reality is that Jacqui's authority and credibility is destroyed. She should jump now rather than limp on until she is pushed.

My call for her to go was picked up by Radio Four. To avoid feeding the publicity beast I did not do any more interviews or add to the comment. The point had been made.

'Furiously Sexy'

There were lighter moments today.

The Irish organised this event in one of the splendid new tourist hotels. A great deal of public money has been invested in the Solis Lough Eske Castle Hotel.  It's a fine example of the re-use of an old building

 complete with comfortable furniture and wood fires.

The Tanaiste said the last time she saw the Assembly co-chairman Peter Hain he looked 'ferociously sexy' dressed in white. Peter explained later that his white suit was his motor racing outfit. He was driving across Ireland. He and his co-driver ran out of petrol in the bandit country of Tyrone.

He was Secretary of State for Northern Ireland at the time and a helicopter was scrambled to rescue him. He was picked up. He co-driver was left stranded.

Former MP and Ulster Unionist Ken McGunniss  recalled his previous visit to Donegal on his honeymoon 40 years ago. He thought local people may have something against Protestants because the hotel gave the happy couple a room with twin beds.

The Secretary of State for Wales commiserated. 'You are welcome to my room in this hotel. The bed is super king size.'

"No thanks" said Ken, ' I'd still prefer to sleep with my wife.'

Farmers' Delight

The Farmers' Weekly sent me this thrilling invitation today:-

Dear Paul, We're looking for hard-working individuals like you across the farming industry to enter the 2009 Farmers Weekly Awards. If you're proud of the work you do, I encourage you to enter yourself and tell us more.

I had no idea my efforts for the farmers had been appreciated. Breathlessly I answered,

Thanks.

I cannot think of a more appropriate person than me to receive the award. I am not known as the Farmer's' Friend for nothing. Selecting me would add lustre to the competition.

Sincerely,

 

Paul Flynn MP House of Commons London SW1A OAA

Comments

[Political Umpire]

Paul, there is a simple answer to the tawdry affair regarding expenses, which of course has been going on very much longer and involving many more serious claims than Ms Smith's farce. No-one is ever going to agree on what constitutes a 'legitimate expense'; whether the 'John Lewis' list should be the Ikea list etc etc. Some will always be better at milking the system than others. Further, it costs a lot of money to police the system.

Here's an answer in one fell swoop (I don't claim originality for this btw, Jamie Whyte amongst others made it in the Times a while ago). Decide how much 'legitimate expenses' seem to be claimed each year. Round it up or down. (Say £40k for argument's sake.) Then add it to MPs existing salaries and scrap all expenses. That way MPs will be free to spend it how they like - cab fares, IT equipment, lodging at relatives' homes, chowing down in Whitehall restaurants, hiring staff, obtaining internet connections, whatever. No-one would interfere with the decisions, no administration costs, no more ammo for Fleet St. Economists would approve as they would presume that it would be more efficiently appropriated, since individuals would have to live with the decisions they made rather than just having to fire them off to the approval body and hope they get through.

Out of London MPs would complain that they were being discriminated against, because they would have much greater travel and accommodation costs (though property prices in London historically, and indeed the general cost of living in London would offset that slightly). If it was decided that they needed a London home, then how about an apartment building being purchased/built in Westminster that would be available for MPs who live outside the M25? Again, same deal for all, transparent (and fixed, or at least known, costs) and no chance of fiddling. Besides, with video conferencing, email and the internet, there must be a reduced need for MPs to be in London (or anywhere) nowadays.

[Paul Flynn]

Thanks Political Umpire. Very reasonable solution. This is very likely to be the solution. It was suggested by three named Tory MPs last week and one 'un-named' Labour one. For their pains the Mail headline the story as an attempt for MPs to grab an extra £40,000.

[DG]

From the City of London website:

"The City of London looks after more than 2,700 properties across six London boroughs - Hackney, Islington, Lambeth, Lewisham, Southwark and Tower Hamlets. It also has two housing estates - Golden Lane and Middlesex Street - within the Square Mile itself and manages the private residential Barbican Estate."

What's wrong with using one of those options? :P

[valleylad]

I'm sorry but if you think any backbench MP is worth more than 100k a year you're deluded.
1. Return MP's salaries to the real world and link rises to those in median income. 65K plus light touch supervision of 100K+ expenses is way out. Halving those figures (with expenses being audited) would be generous.
2. Whilst I've thoroughly enjoyed Smith's squirming (couldn't happen to a nicer women :) ) I'm far more concerned with her paying hubby 40k a year. That must be close to double market rates. She disgusts me. Hanging would be too kind.
3. I'm looking forward to more revelations, and care not a jot for the political affiliations of any mole, as Smith would say, if MP's have nothing to hide they have nothing to fear.

[DG]

Seriously though, every company I've ever worked for has manged to put in place a system that can differentiate between a legitmate expense and taking the proverbial.

Why can't Parliament manage the same?

And (I never thought I'd say this, but...) the Daily Mail is right - fourty thousand pounds is too much. The House sits for, what, 200 days per year? That's £200 per night. You can get a nice 4* hotel in London for less than £140 most of the time, even at short notice. Probably much less than that if the House negotiated a rate with one of the big chains.

I can think of no better way to further annoy the electorate than to announce that all MPs need twice the yearly wage of an average Joe because they can't be trusted to only claim legitimate expenses.

[Paul Flynn]

Many MPs in the past have rented flats in Dolphin Square - a 15 minute walk from the Commons. The cost to the taxpayer from the three options does not vary much. That is between renting, hotels and paying mortgage interest. A serious effort was made to buy the HQ of London County Council when Thatcher closed it down. It came to nothing even though that woud have been the preferred solution. It has since been adapted into blocks of flats.

[Paul Flynn]

DG The Daily Mail is not right. Their campaign has been full of smears, half truths and lies. MPs wages and salaries should not be decided by MPs and have rarely been settled that way.

[Paul]

The only answer to all of these shennanigans is to spoil your ballot at the next election. Let's send these people a clear vote of "no confidence" in them, the system, and their disrespect to us the voter. Go to the poll and cross out all their names, the vote is counted and noted. If by some chance we could get a good percentage of dissenters it might just make them change for the better. Please do not hold your breath, though.

[valleylad]

My plan as well Paul. I dream that more spoilt ballots will be cast than legitimate ones, sending a clear message of contempt for which ever of the purple parties (how exactly do you distinguish between them) is elected.

[patrick]

Somebody asked me a long time ago , is it possible to produce fresh dung from a wooden horse?
In the same vain , is it possible to produce principled leaders, politicians, bankers , judges etc from a society infested with greed and selfish objectives?

The 'disabled' chap across the road that has to have home help getting in the bath and special allowances and cars but somebody forgot to tell the bowls team where he stars as the Captain.
Every work environment i have been in theft from the employer has been regarded as normal etc.
From the unemployed to the monarchy, lords and bankers we are one sorry bunch of people.
Whilst we carry on exterminating just about every other living species on the planet the best we can do is fight about who the biggest crooks are.
Whoever runs our country will have to be as corrupt and self-serving as the public demand them to be.

[Paul Flynn]

No Patrick. Despair is premature.There is still idealism even in the high places that will be determing the results of the G20 today. There will also be high idealism among the protesters too.

[HuwOS]

"The only answer to all of these shennanigans is to spoil your ballot at the next election. Let's send these people a clear vote of "no confidence" in them, the system, and their disrespect to us the voter."

Which would indeed be a forceful way of saying, ignore me and those like me,
we are not just fools, like the very large
numbers (30-50%) of people who don't vote
"because it wouldn't make any difference"
(when a party can have a majority with 30% of the vote)
but a special class of idiot who actually
wastes their own time going to the polling station and ensuring their ballot has no effect on the election, and think it sends some kind of political message, possibly to aliens.

[patrick]

A group of outraged villagers decided to protest about a local price hike in their bus fares by taking passive action "we'll show them, we will go down to the bus stop but we won't get on."
When they realised that they were not travelling to their respected destinations but were still at the bus stop mostly miserable , sometimes wet, they then decided to lobby the council and MP until a compromise was reached.
The doors to every British political party are wide open for anyone to join, protest, challenge, etc.
The problem with a large part of the British electorate is that they expect everything , for someone else to do it whilst contributing very little.
There is corruption in the HOC as of the rest of our sick society. The only positive way to change anything is to become politically active yourselves.