B.S.E (Buy Shedloads on Expenses)

Tabloid Shocker

Thanks to my mate on Fleet Street for sending me an exclusive preview of tomorrow's front page, exposing the Kensington Ward Councillor's latest outburst.

More farmyard antics

Rosie's tuck shop

It's not been a good week for renegade Rosie, who today has been subject to rather cruel and uncalled for comments about her weight in the Daily Mail Size 16 female Labour MP claims crisps, doughnuts and a whole tuck shop full of goodies on her expenses.

I won't take the moral highground because I am rather partial to the occasional doggy-choc myself as well as any other treats that humans are willing to pass my way.

Some of us are just naturally preconditioned to stuff our faces at every opportunity, get over it!

Another £6K Bathroom

Skem MP and former Liverpool Councillor Rosie Cooper has emerged as the latest Labour MP to have expensive tastes in bathrooms, having her £6,376.99 bill rejected by the normally lax fees office. But to save her from wilting too much, they did let her claim £16,000 to renovate her second home.

Do Labour MPs feel they have the right to have bathrooms befitting of senators in ancient Rome?

Degsy wastes HIS OWN money, for a change

Ok, its small fry compared with what he cost the city, but do we feel just a little bit sorry for Derek Hatton now he has lost £300,000 of his own money in his latest Cyprus property venture? Err, to be honest, now we don't.

Should I post this?

I though long and hard before agreeing to post this latest lookalike, sent in by one of my lovely readers.

After all, she has had a tough time, feeling disappointed and let down, been pilloried by the press and rumoured to stressed, tired and emotional. Dare I do anything else that might contribute towards pushing her over the edge?

It was a tough call, but in the end I thought I shouldn't engage in censorship. My public had a right to see this so that they can make up their own minds.

Want a passport? Deliver Labour Leaflets!

I don't normally look at the Daily Mail, but I was just astonished to read this.

It now seems that 50 hours helping the Labour party deliver leaflets or stuff envelopes will help you to get a British passport.

Now don't get me wrong, I am all in favour of the idea of community service being used as a factor to help evidence a claim to citizenship, but it's just typical of Labour to be so prescriptive and set targets. And is it really voluntary work if you are doing it just to get something in return.

Well we know what the Daily Mail's agenda is (after all this is the paper that originally backed Hitler & Mussolini and praised Oswald Mosley with an article entitled "Hurrah for the Blackshirts") but lets look at this from the other end.

One of the biggest single casework issues MPs get are immigration and asylum issues. There is something very offensive about the idea that a politician could say to someone asking for their assistance, "Deliver leaflets for me and then I will help you get a passport."

I truly hope that no politician is temped to take advantage of this involuntary labour force to try and get their message out. I can think of few actions that could be more shameful to British politics.

In defence of my second home

Some people have questioned why my second home expenses are so small, and say that I can't really be living in that kennel. Well I am appalled at those comments.

Do you know what this is about? People feel sorry for me. I've got a very, very small kennel. Some people say it looks like a dwarf's shed, but it's a late 20th century timber framed dogs kennel. It's not particularly attractive, but it just does me nicely and it's got room to actually plant a few blades of grass.

I still don't know what all the fuss is about. What right does the public have to interfere in my private life?

Not smearing but spinning

If you noticed smoke billowing out of an office on Prescott Road this morning, it was most likely coming off the keyboard of Matt Finnegan, Jane Kennedy's highly paid spin master.

By the evening, Jane Kennedy's office was flooded with letters of support, which where dutifully sent off to Daily Post columnist (and Paul Brant lookalike) David Bartlett, who promptly posted them on his blog in order to inform and amuse his reader.

Surely this is just the sort of shameless New Labour spin that Jane Kennedy has railed against? No, as she told Jeremy Paxman last night, "I have no problem with spinning... I separate spinning from smearing."

Oh dear Jane, you slipped off Matt's carefully crafted script there didn't you?

One of the supportive letters said, "You were always game for a fight if the cause was just."

So lets look at the just causes you were not prepared to fight or resign for.

- An illegal war in Iraq - VOTED FOR
- Making local kids pay for the education you got for free - VOTED FOR
- Introducing ID cards - VOTED FOR
- Stripping the nation of it's civil liberties - VOTED FOR
- Student top up fees - VOTED FOR
-Foundation hospitals - VOTED FOR
- Greater freedom of information - VOTED AGAINST
-An investigation into the illegal war in Iraq - VOTED AGAINST
-Cutting benefits to the disabled - VOTED FOR
-Re-opening Broadgreen A&E (which you supported in opposition) DID NOTHING EVEN WHEN YOU WERE A HEALTH MINISTER
Locking your constituents up for 3 months without trial - VOTED FOR
-Cutting benefits to lone parents - VOTED FOR
- Making the sick and elderly sell their homes to pay for care - VOTED FOR

So on every just cause where you could have stood up for the people who voted for you, did you fight? No you rolled over for Blair & Brown to tickle your tummy! No wonder humans have such contempt for politicians these days.

Kennedy Sacked

So Jane Kennedy says she has been sacked. Or has she resigned?

This is all very odd, since people normally try to save face by insisting that they resigned rather that admit they have been sacked. Jane seems to have got this mixed up.

Does she get a redundancy payout if she's sacked as a minister, but nothing if she resigns? That could explain it.

Now, no longer on £104,000 a year, she will be more in touch with the ordinary folk of Wavertree, as she scrapes by on a mere £64,000 + the £400 a month she claims for food (even I couldn't eat that many sausages) + £200 for gas and electric, £200 for telephone bills and £200 for service and maintenance and the £xx,000 she pays her partner as a "researcher".

Tough times indeed, might even have to sell the gîte darling.

Nevertheless a risky strategy. Gordon is no doubt ordering the removal of all central Labour party support from Jane's already lacklustre re-election campaign and no high profile ministerial visits for you (actually that could help - Ed).

Still, at least you will get about £60,000 redundancy pay after the next election (half of it tax free).

_______________UPDATE_________________

Interesting Echo Comment column tonight.

"So, Wavertree MP Jane Kennedy’s view is that she was sacked from the government, while the PM’s is that she resigned.
It’s pitiful, isn’t it? No wonder the country is in turmoil. Do they even know what day it is?"

Oh I laughed until I was left panting for breath!

One term Rosie?

I know I am stepping out of my geographical boundary again, but I couldn't help noticing the astonishing meltdown in the Labour stronghold of Skelmersdale.

The Skem MP (and former Liverpool Councillor Rosie Cooper, who defected to Labour with a promise of a seat in parliament) looks like toast at the next election. Unless she can defect again, to the Tories!

Labour meltdown part II

So yet again Labour have come third (in a real election) behind the Liberal Democrats, and lost more than half their councillors and every council they were defending.

Labour appear to have given up the ghost. I reported yesterday that even The Bulldog hasn't bothered to put up a Labour poster, and I have since been told that Picton Ward Labour candidate Timbo the Terrier (who lives opposite a major polling station) didn't want to be publicly associated with them either.

Apparently Labour didn't even turn up for the opening of ballot papers last night - completely unheard of - unable to bare standing to watch the extent of thier crushing defeat. as they already knew that the Labour vote would collapse across the city.

Best news of the night? Well my sources tell me that the BNP didn't have much to smile about last night from Liverpool's results, and decent Scousers literally queued to get into the polling stations to vote to keep the fascists out. Good humans!

Turnout was up massively compared to 1999, which was the last time Liverpool had a European Election that wasn't all postal.

Labour are sure to face even more calls for a General Election as their infighting causes the pound to spiral and they drift from crisis to crisis. This little dog says, "Bring it on!"

Borris dunking

Fab video of the mop haired clown of London getting in deeper than he expected.

Labour in meltdown

Must admit that I yapped with delight on seeing the resignation of Hazel Blears - Idol of my blogging nemesis, The Bulldog. Perhaps she is feeling a little let down by her heroine (apparently she hasn't even bothered to put a Labour poster in her window) but here is a reminder The Bulldog's view on "what makes Hazel so special."

Meanwhile the rest of Labour is imploding, lets wait and see as the results trickle in over the next 4 days. Just so long as the BNP don't get in, paws crossed anyway.

I have already trotted down to the polling station to do my bit. Have you?

"BNP tactics"

More trouble on the other side of the moat, with Wirral Labour under fire from their own members for employing "BNP style tactics" against a Labour councillor who quit the party last month.

I would like to say I am astonished, but after they tried to jump into bed with the BNP in Burnley nothing would surprise me.