Hazel Blears survives deselection vote!
19 Jun 2009
Source: Telegraph.
[caption id="attachment_2216" align="alignleft" width="94" caption="Hazel Blears"]
[/caption]
Hazel Blears, the former Communities Secretary, has survived a grassroots attempt to oust her as a Labour candidate at the next election.
Miss Blears angered party workers by quitting the Cabinet on the eve of local elections earlier this month.
Her decision was described as a "body blow" to the party and may inadvertently have helped the BNP claim traditional Labour seats in local elections earlier this month.
The ex-minister, who wore a "Rocking the Boat" brooch the day after her resignation, was heckled by demonstrators as she arrived at Salford Civic Centre, Greater Manchester, for a clear-the-air meeting with party activists.
But inside the building her supporters repelled an attempt to have a vote of no confidence in her future as the local MP.
Three ward branches of Salford Labour Party were understood to have put forward motions that could have seen her deselected.
Miss Blears emerged victorious despite having been seriously damaged by the MPs' Expenses disclosed by the Daily Telegraph.
In the days before her departure the Prime Minister described her failure to pay capital gains tax on the sale of a second home as "totally unacceptable".
She made at least £80,000 on the sale of two properties – each of them subsidised by taxpayers - without paying capital gains tax.
Last month she voluntarily paid £13,000 to the Inland Revenue.
As the controversy continued Miss Blears tried to placate local critics by describing the timing of her Cabinet walkout as an error of judgment.
Furthermore, she said she had been "stupid" to wear the infamous "Rocking the boat" brooch and "thoughtless and cruel" to have taunted Gordon Brown over his awkward appearance on the video sharing website YouTube.
Despite the furore Miss Blears has enjoyed the unwavering support of senior figures in her constituency association.
Some, however, were so angered by her behaviour that they broke ranks with the local Labour hierarchy.
A local community magazine, the Salford Star, went so far as to launch a "Hazel Must Go!" campaign against her.
I thing all of these MPs should be strip
I thing all of these MPs should be striped of their role and a bi election take place. It accounts to curruption in public office and there is no excuse for it. It might just be me been negative but i think the documents that have just been made public regarding MP expenses is a load of tosh there is now way they would get away with handing in accounts like that to the Tax man or other bodies.
Maybe someone could explain why MPs can claim money towards their morgage and food don't these come in under living expenses that we all have to cover.
Also why do they claim for furniture, TV's and storgage.
Hazel might of got the Labour support to
Hazel might of got the Labour support to keep her post be i wonder how thinks will go at the next election? Only time will tell.
CHris never mind by-election, we should
CHris never mind by-election, we should have been able to sack the whole lot of them and let the nation decide who continues in their jobs, not a bunch of socially retarded red rose wearing control freaks.... keeping Blears probably costs them the election and may even let a BNP member in on her seat now!
What a bubble they all live in... i have been up most of the night inputting figures for the Stoke North MP Joan Walley, and even her claims that she is only the 370th most expensive MP dont wash, you should see her food bill... we have to pay for our food out of our salaries... disgusts me something rotten.
Yes what a shame the witch survived. Jus
Yes what a shame the witch survived. Just goes to show how out of touch with ordinary people the Salford Labour Party is.
I agree to some extent with David about MPs being 'recalled' if thats what people want, but we must ensure that the legislation is drafted in a very tight way that would prevent persistant recalling until a sitting MP was defeated, and we must ensure that the threshold is extremely high (I'm talking something like 30% of the constituency) to prevent partisan motivated campaigns to cause by-elections (not that a certain party with the yellow vulture as its logo would ever do anything like that, I'm sure). Alternatively, we must ensure that the legislation specifies very clearly and narrowly for what reasons a recall ballot would be allowed.
TELEGRAPH ATTACKS LABOUR MP SHOCK HO
TELEGRAPH ATTACKS LABOUR MP
SHOCK HORROR!
SCOOP!
HAZEL KEEPS JOB!
SENSATION!
A yellow vulture??? :-) like it... you g
A yellow vulture??? :-) like it... you green tree hugger!!! :-)
Oh how the debtate sinks to a new all time low... yellow vulture indeed!!! :-)
Still better than the tourch of recession that you used to have... i think that was a 'burn your bridges.. burn the nation' symbol was it?
All MPs have proved is that crime pays i
All MPs have proved is that crime pays if you make the rules.
Those that keep their jobs (all of them) till the next election will get a nice earner as a pay off for their crimes.
In a just world they would be in prison, but hey there are not enough prison places.
That what you call forward thinking.
OK she's survived a vote by labour p
OK she's survived a vote by labour party members! What an achievement eh.
When it comes to the electorate they may well be more sensible.
So Mark answer me this - having used the
So Mark answer me this - having used the em to turn on the emphasis, how do I turn it off again?
Police to launch criminal investigation
Police to launch criminal investigation into MPs' expenses claims
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/jun/19/mps-expenses-met-police-i...
The MPs' expenses scandal escalated when Scotland Yard announced it would be launching a criminal investigation into alleged cases of misuse of the parliamentary system of allowances.
The Met said it would focus on a "small number" of MPs and peers. Officers from the economic and specialist crime command will conduct the investigation, overseen by the Met's temporary assistant commissioner, Janet Williams, a former special branch commander.
The announcement came as a surprise to MPs, still reeling from the furore over the censorship of hundreds of thousands of expenses documents published on the Commons website. Police had previously indicated that, if any criminal investigations were launched, they would be into allegations of fraud.
Sources say cases in which an MP might have claimed interest for a mortgage already paid off might warrant a criminal inquiry for fraud. Labour MPs Elliot Morley and David Chaytor both continued to claim for mortgage interest payments despite having paid off loans of £16,000 and £13,000 respectively. Both said they will stand down at the next election.
Parliamentary standards inquiries into Chaytor and Morley are on hold while the police consider their cases.
Labour's Lady Uddin, who denies any wrongdoing, is accused of claiming as much as £100,000 for a property reportedly left empty, while the Conservative Bill Wiggin allegedly claimed £11,000 in parliamentary allowances for a property he owned outright.
Police and prosecutors have spent several weeks going through suspicious claims. Officers have interviewed staff in the fees office to satisfy themselves that MPs were following the rules.
They are refusing to say how soon any charges, if any, might be brought.
Most MPs insist their behaviour was within the rules and that they paid money back to alleviate voter anger.
Sir Paul Stephenson, the Met commissioner, has held talks with the director of public prosecutions, Keir Starmer.
The Yard's decision came as the Commons authorities were forced to take down from its website a list of MPs who had repaid money on account of inaccuracies, which included a Richard Packer – an MP who does not exist. The list – online for less than 24 hours – was published by the members' estimates committee on Thursday evening and showed that some 182 MPs from all political parties had returned a total of £478,616.
The Yard begins its involvement – with memories of the unsuccessful 2006 police investigation into allegations of cash for honours – as the main parties committed themselves to ending the publication of MPs' expenses are published in redacted form only, shamed by documents released blacked out.
Heres the safest bet I've ever made "no
Heres the safest bet I've ever made "no one will be charged".
If these theives can stop the tax-office in their tracks, what hope is there for the police.
They politicised the civil service, and police so they could control it, not be controlled by it.
Terry i think we may be standing at the
Terry i think we may be standing at the dawn of a cromwellian moment in the history of Parliament.... for once the honourable gents may get their dues.... lets wait and see.
Post new comment