Bit of an own goal, Mr. Laws, what?

[non sociopath skin]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/may/29/david-laws-treasury-expenses-claim

Not wanting to sound cynical but surely a seasoned politician should have seen this one coming?

The Skin

[muriel_volestrangler]

1. If it was really just about privacy, then he shouldn't have claimed accommodation expenses at all

Since several reports have pointed out he's already wealthy, he could have just said "I don't need to claim accommodation expenses for London", and then the name, or address, of his partner-that-isn't-a-partner would never have been in the records anywhere. If he chose to privately pay the partner (because the partner would otherwise have rented the room out to someone else, for instance, and he didn't want him to lose out financially), then that would have been just between them.

And I'm very surprised that a Lib Dem felt he had to cover up being homosexual. Perhaps there's some bigot in the family he felt he had to keep in the dark about it, but really, I'd say it wouldn't hurt him politically. Even Tories can come out these days.

Yeah, I agree, an own goal.

[fedsron2us]

2. Cuts are for the little people.

As a former banker with JP Morgan Laws is hardly short of a bob or too so this is inexcusable from a man who is going to be dishing out austerity to the masses. His excuse that they were not partners or spouses because they did not share bank accounts or some of their social life is laughable since the same applies to many married couples who keep their financial affairs separate. Worth noting that his partner is a professional political lobbyist.

My guess he will be gone within the week since his presence is going to be an ongoing liability to a government intent on preaching the hair shirt of austerity to the rest of us. It will be an interesting test of the coalition since I expect Cameron will not be able to get shot of Laws without Clegg's approval.

[T_i_B]

3. "Surely a seasoned politician should have seen this one coming?"

He might have thought that he'd escaped the Telegraph's notice after last summer, when everyone else got done for expenses fiddles by them.

Makes you wonder what else is being kept back.

[LeftishBrit]

4. Very peculiar...

Can't help wondering if the Tory press chose now to expose him, because they are against LibDems in the coalition. Or whether there are political enemies trying to get him.

Nevertheless, he was certainly stupid, careless and, for someone as rich as he is, greedy. This isn't just any old MP; it's a person who will be in a key role running the economy and wielding the financial axe over others. Apparently not such a great believer in fiscal responsibility for himself!

It is sad that in 2010 he felt that he could not admit that he was gay until now (though he did make it fairly obvious at one point by saying that Section 28 was the *only* thing that prevented him from being a Tory).

A strange and rather sad story all round

[non sociopath skin]

5. I've just read his bio on the Guardian website ...

... and there seems to be little of the Liberal about him and an awful lot of the Tory - no wonder he's one of the tiny minority of LibDems to achieve a cabinet position in the "Coalition".

Which begs the question, if (when?) he gets the boot, will there be another LibDem nasty enough to take on Laws's role as Cameron and Osborne's hatchet man?

The Skin

[Anarcho-Socialist]

6. Can Clegg get rid of him though?

If Clegg takes the initiative and moves against him, Laws might respond by taking the Tory whip. Cameron might be reluctant to purge such a fellow-traveller from the Cabinet given Laws' right-wing views.

I suspect Laws will make a grovelling apology, repay some cash and manage to survive. Cameron won't move against him unless the media turns up the heat, as the backbenchers might be more or less sympathetic to Laws. As you suggest Clegg might not find another Lib Dem MP acceptable to the Tory backbenchers.

[fedsron2us]

7. City insider.

Says it all really. One of the 18 millionaires in the Cabinet.

People who have not got a clue what is like to be potless.

[non sociopath skin]

8. The Torygraph already seems to be claiming his scalp ...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/mps-expenses/7783613/Only-this-painful-sacrifice-could-save-the-new-politics.html

The Skin

[fedsron2us]

9. He is gone

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/10191524.stm

He was dead in the water from the moment the story broke

Having an expenses fiddler preaching austerity for the masses was never really going to be a winning ticket for a Treasury minister.

Another case of a politician telling the public to do one thing while doing the opposite themselves.

It seems no one has learned anything from Major's Back To Basic's fiasco.

What I want to know was whether it was Cameron or Clegg who told him to resign ?

[Hopeless Romantic]

10. Refreshing to see him gone so quickly though

Whether he jumped or was pushed.

Most of the last lot would rather gnaw off a limb than resign, no matter what the scandal.

[TheBigotBasher]

13. That strategy came from Campbell.

The idea behind it was a lesson learnt from while Labour was in opposition. Once they claimed a scalp they went for another. That increased the feeling of sleaze. The idea of hanging on was that the story would eventually die out and people would forget it. The only person that really worked for was Mandleson, the Patron Saint of the Sacked.

[BooScout]

11. Good riddance...

How long is it going to take for us all to get it that the politicans preach a sermon they have no intention of adhering to in their own personal lives. Pond scum, the lot of them.

[non sociopath skin]

12. Got to be some sort of record for the first scandal of a government though.

The Tory backbench dinosaurs will be choking on their G&Ts.

The Skin

[TheBigotBasher]

14. Mohammed Sarwar being accused of bribery and election offences

within days of the election of "New Labour".

Senior Minister. Probably.

[non sociopath skin]

17. But David Laws ...

Senior Minister. Actually.

The Skin

[non sociopath skin]

18. From Jon Snow's C4 News update

We can't find any modern day examples (in the last hundred years) of politicians with shorter cabinet careers. David Blunkett's second cabinet appointment lasted months, rather than days. Unless you know better. Danny Alexander, the new Chief Secretary to the Treasury, has yet to make a public appearance. Five years ago he was the PR man for the Cairngorms National Park Authority, now he is one of the men in charge of reducing the deficit - it is a meteoric rise. Some suggest the net result of all this will be a tightening of George Osborne's grip on the Treasury, which given the bad news ahead may or may not be something he relishes.

http://tiny.cc/whebe

The Skin

[Anarcho-Socialist]

15. I wouldn't knowing who kicked the chair from under him

Is there any other Orange Booker ready to take his place?

[non sociopath skin]

16. Apparently Danny Alexander has accepted the poison chalice.

I guess even that's preferable to being Cameron and Osborne's fall-guy in Scotland.

Cameron really does have the poor Lib Dems stitched up a treat for when the bigger financial boot falls ...

The Skin

[muriel_volestrangler]

20. And now the Telegraph targets Alexander:

The new Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander, avoided paying capital gains tax when he sold his taxpayer-funded second home at a profit, The Daily Telegraph can disclose.

Danny Alexander, who was appointed on Saturday after the resignation of fellow Liberal Democrat David Laws, designated the property as his second home for the purpose of claiming parliamentary expenses but described it to HM Revenue and Customs as his main home.

Last night Mr Alexander admitted that he took advantage of a loophole to legally avoid paying CGT when he sold the south London property in June 2007 for around £300,000.

The disclosure that he failed to pay CGT comes at a particularly sensitive time because the Coalition is planning to increase the rate of the tax for owners of second homes and buy-to-let properties in an emergency budget next month.

When Mr Alexander sold his flat the top rate of CGT was 40 per cent. It has since dropped to 18 per cent but the Lib Dems are now pushing for it to be increased to 40 or even 50 per cent. The Daily Telegraph is running a campaign calling on the Government to protect the savings of small investors and ordinary second-home owners from any rise in CGT.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/mps-expenses/liberal-democrat-mps-expenses/7787519/Danny-Alexander-new-Treasury-chief-avoided-capital-gains-tax-on-house.html

If you read through, it turns out he used a law that says you have up to 3 years to dispose of a house before it becomes liable for capital gains tax, when you designate a new house as your principal residence (and that applies to everyone, not just MPs). And this is what Alexander did - when he became an MP in 2005, he designated his London home as his 2nd residence, and sold it in 2007. As Liberal Conspiracy points out, and the Torygraph pretty much signposts itself in the 4th paragraph, this looks like part of their attewmpt to stop any changes to CGT.

[non sociopath skin]

21. With friends like the Torygraph ...

:evilgrin:

The Skin

[fedsron2us]

23. This is not a serious attempt to oust Alexander

since he has broken no Commons rules but more an exercise to discredit the Liberal Democrats and Clegg in particular, who was on record as criticizing the way MPS flipped their various properties to maximise both expenses and tax advantages. Of course, it has the added bonus of continuing the Torygraph campaign against CGT rises on second homes. Needless, to say that the Telegraph are owned by the Sark dwelling tax exiles the Barclay brothers are complete hypocrites on this issue. It is clear where they want the burden for rescuing the UK from its debt crisis to fall, and it is not on the rich.


The whole thing does rather reveal the Lib Dems weakness on the PR front. They need hatchet men like Mandelson and Campbell to play the Tories at their own game. I am sure their is plenty of dirt on Tory right wingers for those who care to look for it. Time for them to start playing the man rather than the ball as well.

[non sociopath skin]

24. Wouldn't disagree with you, Feds, though I retain enough misguided idealism in my old age ...

... to wish that politicians didn't have to resort to the bullying cynicism of Mandelson, Campbell and their ilk.

The Skin

[tjwmason]

22. The Torygraph does seem to be moving against the coalition.

Wouldn't be at all surprised to see some more LibDem 'scandals' coming out in the next few weeks/months.

[LeftishBrit]

19. Just to put this into perspective, here's a shocker from GD about Bush's Texas replacement

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x8451037

[LeftishBrit]

25. Polly Toynbee's article about it is quite interesting

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/may/31/david-laws-cuts-agenda