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A-Z of expenses scandal casualties
A growing number of Parliamentarians are being forced to quit in the fallout from the Daily Telegraph's expenses leak
As the House of Commons finally publishes details of all MPs expenses over the past four years, the Daily Telegraph has claimed yet another scalp with its long-running exposure of Parliamentary allowance abuses. Kitty Ussher, a Treasury minister and rising star of Gordon Brown's government, resigned her post on June 17 when she learned that the Telegraph would be publishing details on June 18 of how she avoided paying capital gains tax when she sold her constituency home.
In a further report published on June 18, the Telegraph revealed that David Chaytor, who has already announced he is standing down as Labour MP for Bury North at the next election, claimed almost £5,000 under his office allowances to pay his 27-year-old daughter under an assumed name. He submitted invoices for research work by a 'Sarah Rastrick', whose address and mobile phone number turned out to be those of his daughter, Sarah Chaytor.
These are the ministers and MPs who have so far fallen foul of the expenses scandal since the Telegraph's first report on May 8:
• Hazel Blears, Labour MP for Salford. The Communities Secretary resigned from the Cabinet on June 2 after Gordon Brown described as "complete unacceptable" her failure to pay capital gains tax on two properties partially funded by the taxpayer through second home allowances.
• Ben Chapman, Labour MP for Wirral South (pictured left). He will stand down at the next election after claiming for mortgage interest payments despite having repaid repaying his home loan.
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• David Chaytor, Labour MP for Bury North. Having been suspended by the Parliamentary Labour Party after continuing to claim £12,925 a year for a loan he had already paid off, he announced on June 1 that he will stand down at the next general election. He admitted his error was "unforgivable". On June 18, the Telegraph claimed he had also paid £5,000 to his daughter under an assumed name.
• Jim Devine, Labour MP for Livingston. He was banned on June 16 by Labour's 'star chamber' from fighting the next general election - the first Scottish MP to be deselected over expenses claims. He submitted a £2,157 bill for rewiring his London flat, but it was claimed that the invoice had an invalid VAT number and a false address. He also failed to justify a £2,326 claim for having shelves put up at his constituency office by one of his friends.
• Christopher Fraser, Conservative MP for South West Norfolk. He announced on May 28 that he will stand down at the next election citing his wife's "ongoing health problems". Fraser claimed £1,800 in taxpayers' money to buy 215 trees, but said his departure had "nothing to do" with his expenses claims.
• Ian Gibson, Labour MP for Norwich North. On June 2 he was barred by Labour's so-called 'star chamber' from standing for the party at the next general election and on June 6 he stood down as an MP with immediate effect, triggering a by-election. He sold his London flat to his own daughter in a cut-price deal having claimed the second-home allowance for it.
• Douglas Hogg, Conservative MP for Sleaford & North Hykeham (pictured right). He volunteered to leave at the next election after claiming £2,000 to clean his moat at Kettlethorpe Hall in Lincolnshire.
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• Beverley Hughes, Labour MP for Stretford and Urmston. She announced on June 2 that she will stand down as an MP due to "family circumstances". The Telegraph disclosed that she had rented a second home in London rather than purchasing one, but claimed £801.60 for re-upholstering furniture, £718 for a chair and £435 for curtains and bedding.
• Julie Kirkbride, Conservative MP for Bromsgrove (pictured centre). She announced on May 28 that she will stand down at the next election following revelations that she and her husband Andrew MacKay (see below) had both claimed second-home allowances, that she had allowed her brother to live rent-free in her second home and that she had hired her sister as a secretary at £12,000 a year, though she is based in Dorset. There were claims that George Galloway's Respect party was behind a 'Julie Must Go!' petition in her constituency.
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• Ian McCartney, Labour MP for Makerfield. He announced on May 23 that he will stand down at the next election, citing health reasons. The move follows the disclosure that he paid back almost £15,000 worth of his own expenses claims last year, saying the system had put his reputation at risk.
• Andrew MacKay, Tory MP for Bracknell. After it was revealed that he and his wife, fellow Tory MP Julie Kirkbride (see above), were claiming second-home allowances for both their homes, he announced on May 23, following a phone call with Cameron, that he would be standing down at the next election.
• Michael Martin, Labour MP for Glasgow North East and Speaker of the Commons. After calls to step down over his handling of the expenses scandal - he was more concerned about keeping it quiet than exposing the systematic abuse - he announced his resignation, to take effect on June 21. The election of a new Speaker will be held the following day.
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• Margaret Moran, Labour MP for Luton South. She announced on May 28 that she would not stand at the next election. Her expenses claim was one of the most high-profile revealed by the Telegraph: she claimed £22,500 for dry rot treatment on a second home she and her husband shared that was situated 100 miles from her constituency.
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• Elliot Morley, Labour MP for Scunthorpe. He announced on May 29 that he will not stand at the next general election after claiming £16,000 in mortgage interest payments having already paid off the loan. He apologised -blaming "sloppy accounting" - and has repaid the money.Labour suspends MP as public demands action
• Lord Rennard, Lib Dems' chief executive. He will step down in the autumn for what he says are health and family reasons. It saves the party a potentially embarrassing row over the £40,000 he is said to have claimed for a second home - a holiday house in Eastbourne.
• Jacqui Smith, Home Secretary. She stood down from the Cabinet at the June 5 post-European election reshuffle, to be replaced as Home Secretary by Alan Johnson. She was one of the earliest MPs to be exposed by the allowances scandal, claiming her family home in her constituency to be her second home, and claiming expenses for pay-per-view blue movies watched by her husband, Richard Timney. She plans to defend her seat at the next election as a backbencher.
• Anthony Steen, Conservative MP for Totnes. He is to stand down at the next election after claiming more than £80,000 for the upkeep of his £1m mansion in Devon and accusing voters of being jealous of his "Balmoral-style" home.
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• Kitty Ussher, Labour MP for Burnley and Padiham. She announced on June 17 that she was leaving her post as treasury minister with immediate effect and would stand down as an MP at the next election after being exposed by the Daily Telegraph for 'flipping' the designation of her principal home to avoid paying up to £16,800 in capital gains tax on selling her constituency home.
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• Sir Peter Viggers, Conservative MP for Gosport. He was forced by David Cameron to quit after claiming - among other expenses - £1,645 for a "floating duck island" for his garden pond.
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• Tom Watson, Labour MP West Bromwich East and Minister for Digital Engagement. On June 2, the same day Jacqui Smith's departure from Cabinet was leaked (see above), it emerged that Watson, one of the PM's closest allies, would also be standing down from the Government. The Daily Telegraph disclosed that he spent the maximum of £4,800 in a single year on food, and had his expenses cut after buying a set of dining room chairs that exceeded the limit set by the Commons Fees Office.
• Nicholas Winterton, Conservative MP for Macclesfield. Sir Nicholas and his wife (see below) announced on May 25 that they would both stand down at the next general election after claiming more than £80,000 in rent since 2002 for a small London flat owned by a trust controlled by his children.
• Ann Winterton, Conservative MP for Congleton. She is to stand down at the next general election. As well as claiming rent along with her husband (see above), Lady Winterton charged the taxpayer more than £1,100 for items for their London flat, including a toilet brush holder and a 'loo handle'. ·
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The damage is of such seriousness that I believe it merits the exercise of the royal prerogative to dissolve parliament. Then let the honest MPs seek reelection.
Great news, that there is going to be a mass clear out of crass and petty expense fiddlers proclaiming to be the backbone and bedrock of our nation. Where has all the ethics gone, long time ago
When you read about members of the public who have been prosecuted and jailed for minor first time offences involving theft, obtaining money by deception and tax fraud, and then you are confronted with this huge debacle over our elected Members of Parliament who claim it is their right to take massive amounts of cash in so called allowances from the hard working taxpayer, even though most of the money claimed has nothing whatsoever to do with their 'job', just beggars belief.
In China today they still execute corrupt criminals for theft and fraud. The least we should expect is that the intended scrutiny of every MP's claims for expences and allowances (and that includes Mr Tony Blair), will be be so rigorous, that any MP who in the eyes of the law has committed a crime will be prosecuted in accordance with the law of this land and in order to deter other polititions from claiming expences and allowences that they have no right to claim. The current system of expences and allowances, especially with regard to 'second homes', should be abolished and new rules applied. We really need an election to take place within the next six months after those 'rotten' MP's have been deselected.