Jane's Gravy Train Tales

Someone has passed under my nose a recording of Roger Phillips interviewing Jane Kennedy about her expenses. I have picked out Gravy Train Jane's comments for your amusement.

Jane Kennedy: "I'm being accused of eating and being made redundant and receiving a severance payment."

Err, no luv. You are being accused of milking a system which you helped create over the past 17 years, claiming £13,000 on food and being paid £20,000 for quitting a job - a perk available only to bankers and ministers.

Jane Kennedy: "The total cost of the expenses that I am to the taxpayer of wavertree is about £140,000 a year includes 4 excellent people in the constituency office that has access off the high-street."

Oh dear oh dear, someone has had too many pork pies on their food expenses! You conveniently left your salary out of this figure, which last year was £104,000. So you cost the taxpayer £1/4 million.

Jane Kennedy: "We worked it out at about £2 per voter per year, thats about half the cost of a pack of pick and mix sweets."

You must buy your pick and mix in Harrods - on your food expenses no doubt. And it's £3.38 - you would expect the former Chief Financial Secretary to the Treasury to be able to add up.

Jane Kennedy: "well I didn't come into this job to make a lot of money, if I'd stayed as a council officer when I worked for Liverpool, i'm confident I would now be in a senior position earning considerably more that the £64,000 a year i make as an MP. If I'd stayed as a union official, I would probably be earning more than I am now.

Well she certainly believes in herself even if no one else does.

Jane Kennedy: "And in my time as an MP, two things personally that I have done for the constituency I am particularly proud of.

1. When I resigned as a health minister I was doing so because the government at the time was trying to bring in a formula that would have cut the funding to Alder Hey by £10million.

The second thing I am proud of is I was approached by the Liberal Democrat Council as was Louise Ellman to see if we could use our good offices to secure the £15million for Edge Lane. That is real politics. When the electors come to decide on value for money at the end of the day, I would like them to consider some of the points I am making to you this afternoon."

What a lot to show for 17 years work, I take it all back, clearly you are great value for money.

Jane Kennedy: "What the Liberal Democrats have no experience of is how hard you have to work as a government minister. There isn't a minister in government who doesn't work really hard, and they are working at the moment in extremely difficult economic circumstances."

Which you helped to create as Treasury Minister!

Jane Kennedy: "But you know you do the job because you love it, the pay is just the icing on the cake.

When you were a child did you sneak downstairs in the night and steal all the icing off the Christmas cake?

Jane Kennedy: "But in terms of the packages I have to pay back i'm not even going to get into it."

I bet you're not! You will probably need that money after next May.

More good reasons to joint the campaign to help derail Jane's Gravy Train.