back to article High Court orders MPs to 'fess up on expenses

The Information Commissioner has welcomed the High Court's decision to force MPs to publish their full expenses. The Court said the public had a right to know. "We have no doubt that the public interest is at stake. We are not here dealing with idle gossip, or public curiosity about what in truth are trivialities. The …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Paris Hilton

    Huzzah!

    I've got the tomatoes, who's first in the stocks!

    Paris, cause she also has loads of money to spend that she didn't work for.

  2. James Whale
    Stop

    Finally...

    ... the beginnings of some accountability. I dread to think what's gonna come out in the wash, the way they've been fighting to keep it all secret.

    People are gonna be up in arms...

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Flame

    About F****** Time!

    thats all i can say, shame its a), took so damn long, and b), now cost us even more, shame most people work for a living and get no expenses, think i'll become an MP, after all, i only need to be good at bullshit, spend money that doesnt belong to me on things it shouldnt be spent on, bring in new laws that nobody needs or wants, and be so fucking incompetent it begs belief!

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Up

    Just wait...

    ..for The Sun and Daily Mirror articles. Will be fun to see Labour going down even more...as if they can more since Cheshire Cat became PM ;)

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Happy

    Time to pay up

    Now that Speaker Martin and his cronies have lost their legal battle, they should be required to reimburse the taxpayers out of their own salaries. This would also provide a valuable lesson to other MPs who think they can spend public money without being called to account.

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  7. Sarah Bee (Written by Reg staff)

    Re: They should be forced to liquidate...

    'Gaol' is a stupid spelling wrongness and must die.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    MP's Expenses

    HMRC (of lost DataBase fame) should simply tax @ 40% all claims NOT supported with a receipt.

  9. This post has been deleted by its author

  10. Slaine
    Flame

    @ the wittle bizzy bee

    no no Sarah - Politicians are stupid wrongnesses, and should die in Gaol.

    Actually that was an afterthought and if you really want you can delete it. The important comment is: Ahhhahahahahahahahaha - lets see how those theiving scum like it when we're poking our noses into their spending habits.

  11. Philip Lord
    Thumb Up

    Gaol

    Comes from the French - and still used regularly as an alternative to 'prison' on TV news over there.

    Nothing wrong with it!

  12. Matt

    Send them all to Gaol

    @Sarah: Why aren't you in the pub yet?

  13. Aditya Krishnan
    Paris Hilton

    Gaol? Jail?

    How does one pronounce Gaol? wondered ever since I read Wind in the Willows. Is it like jail or is it like "ga-ol" or some weird French-type "gaoool"?

    Cos she doesn't know either.

  14. Martyn Breckenridge

    Gaol

    Its doesnt come from the frogs:

    "Gaol is an early Modern English spelling for jail with the same pronunciation and meaning. Although jail is now more common, gaol is still the favoured spelling in parts of the Commonwealth of Nations, for example in Australia."

    Quoting a popular online encyclopedia, and its not encarta

  15. Anonymous Coward
    Flame

    Stick 'em in GAOL!

    Last I checked, this was an English paper and should therefore stick to Queen's English at all times (even if the locals don't understand it).

    ...

    I think the Tower is too good for the thieving MPs, councilors and the rest of the scum that "represent us". They should all be made to live on the dole in some stinking council estate, instead - and banned from holding public office ever again.

  16. Robin Bradshaw
    Flame

    When excrement and air conditioning collide

    From the summary of the court case section 42:

    "None of this is intended to suggest that the disclosure of an individual's private address under FOIA does not require justification. In the present case, however, there was a legitimate public interest well capable of providing such justification. Thus, for example, there is evidence which suggests that one MP claimed ACA for a property which did not exist, and yet further evidence may demonstrate that on occasions MPs claiming ACA were letting out the accommodation procured from the ACA allowance."

    Intriguing it would appear that at least on MP is going to be caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

    I cant wait :)

  17. ImaGnuber

    Would love to hear

    Radio/television announcer on each conviction...

    Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooool!

    Don't care if it only works in print.

  18. Sean Nevin
    Paris Hilton

    Re Gaol vs. Jail

    If "Gaol" is good enough for Oscar Wilde's poems it's fine by me. Mind you whilst I don't see it very often in everyday use, it is nice to see that some people stubbornly cling to proper usage of a language that, in my personal opinion, does not receive the respect it deserves.

    Paris, because she didn't spend enough time in there.

  19. night troll
    Pirate

    What makes you think....

    ....you will see all this info?

    Next parliment, first order of business first act to be passed will be to make secret and exempt from FOI all MP's expenses. Probably passed by an overwelming majority from all parties.

    Why don't they have to pay back this money or give the second houses back to the state when they get kicked out or resign?

  20. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    while we're at it

    Let's surcharge the crims who put in a duff estimate for the olympic swimming pool.

  21. Anonymous Coward
    Unhappy

    So who's keeping a running tab

    on how much the "authorities" are p^h^h^h^h frittering away taxpayers money each week (day)?

    By my reckoning its over a quarter of a million quid in the last few days what with the costs of this doomed appeal and the farce of shooting the messenger in the Channel4 vs the Police/CPS debacle.

    It IS about time the Tower of London was refurbished for use.

  22. mh.

    Nothing to hide/nothing to fear

    Funny how the politicians don't quote their favourite mantra when they're being investigated.

    Incidentally, some of the old vagrancy acts refer to the big house as the House of Correction.

  23. Fred Gumby
    Pirate

    Jail, Gaol?

    This is why nothing gets done!

    The point is that some crooks^W politicians are taking the taxpayers for a ride and everybody starts quibbling about semantics.

    Jail, gaol, pokey, slammer or whatever. I'd like my taxes back please and the rules changed. Also the thieving bastards^W^W elected politicians need to be named and shamed (and/or put in prison)

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  25. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    Surprise, surprise: Blair's expenses were shredded

    No shocks there then. If he was willing to commit the lives of our soldiers, the lives of the Iraqi people and billions of pounds in tax payers money to an illegal war I'm sure he wouldn't have thought twice about abusing his expenses to pay for all sorts of things he shouldn't have.

  26. Anonymous Coward
    Pirate

    As an Aussie

    We know all about convicts and gaol !

  27. Steve
    Joke

    @ Math Campbell

    "Since the Reg is a "British" paper, not as one poster stated, an "English" paper... "

    Depends what accuracy you're working to - to within about 10%, England *is* the UK.

  28. Slaine

    Accuracy versus Effectiveness

    10% of the population, providing 50% of the brains.

  29. me
    Paris Hilton

    For those on the other side of the mud hole...

    I know this is a really basic (dumb) question, but what is an "MP"?

    Paris-cause I just don't, no shite

  30. Spleen
    Boffin

    @me

    MP is an acronym meaning "Military-supported Parasite".

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