Pin the Sleaze on the Party!!

Hours of endless fun....you know what you have to do on 4th June!!!

http://www.playok.co.uk/juryteam/

Enough is not enough for these people...

It is a scandal that well paid MPs and MEPs then go on to use more public money to "employ" family members. DO THEY NOT GET IT?? This is NOT money that is theirs by right, to do with as they please - it is PUBLIC MONEY, which should be spend in the most effective and efficient way possible.

Ask yourself this question - what are the mathematical odds that family members would, by ANY objective standard, just happen to be the best candidate for the job, had it been thrown open to fair competition? So its a double-whammy for the taxpayer - we pay top rate for services, yet arguably get second rate people filling the jobs.....but hey, who cares as long as our representatives get to enrich themselves.

The list below shows it cuts right across all parties.

Make a difference on June 4th - a vote for a party candidate is a vote for greed.
June 4th is Independents' day - vote Jury Team and let the parties know that that you are sick to the back teeth with their scams and fiddles.

MEPs who acknowledge that their relatives work for them
Richard Ashworth Conservative: Sally Ashworth (wife)
Jim Allister Independent: Karen Allister (daughter)
Sir Robert Atkins C: Lady Dulcie Atkins (wife)
John Bowis* C: Caroline Bowis (wife)
Philip Bushill-Matthews* C: Angela Bushill-Matthews (wife)
Martin Callanan C: Jayne Burton (wife)
Michael Cashman Labour: Paul Cottingham (partner)
Giles Chichester C: Virginia Chichester (wife)
Richard Corbett Lab: Anne Corbett (wife)
Nirj Deva C: Indra Deva (wife)
Den Dover* Ind: Kathleen and Amanda Dover
Nigel Farage UKIP: Kirsten Farage (wife)
Malcolm Harbour C: Penny Harbour (wife)
Chris Heaton-Harris* C: Jayne Heaton-Harris (wife)
Roger Helmer C: Sara Harmer (wife)
Ian Hudghton Scottish Nationalist: Lily Hudghton (wife)
Stephen Hughes Lab: Cynthia Beaver (wife)
Dr Syed Kamall C: Sandira Beekoo (wife)
Robert Kilroy-Silk Ind: Jan Kilroy-Silk (wife)
Timothy Kirkhope C: Caroline Kirkhope (wife)
Baroness Ludford Lib Dem: Steve Hitchens (huband)
Neil Parish* C: Susan Parish (wife)
Brian Simpson Lab: Mark (son) and Linda Simpson (wife)
David Sumberg* C: Carolyn Sumberg (wife)
Charles Tannock C: Silvia Janicinova (wife)
Gary Titley* Lab: Charo Titley (wife)
Geoffrey van Orden* C: Frances van Orden (wife)
Diana Wallis Lib Dem: Stewart Arnold (husband)
Graham Watson Lib Dem: Rita Giannini-Watson (wife)
Glenis Willmott Labour: Edward Willmott (husband)
* Not standing for re-election

Run for your lives

An article in today's Gruinard suggests that over 50 Labour MPs have asked to be sent to the Lords.....This is staggering - they obviously realise that the writing is on the wall, and they can't bear to be thrown off the gravy train. Who the hell do they think they are, with their arrogant belief that they have a divine right to rule?

I broadly had no problem with the old unreformed House of Lords - at least being there through an accident of birth was generally less corrupt than the current "reformed" patronage system. But as we've started down the road of reform, its time to go the whole way and move to an elected second chamber, with fixed terms.

Best quote from the article? "We are doomed," one senior Labour figure told the Guardian.
(I'm taking bets on the identity of the mystery senior figure, but the smart money is on a certain Chancellor...)

Oh, and my message for the 50 MPs? Don't you know that it takes more than a request to No. 10 - word on the streets that you have to enclose a cheque with your letter...going rate is around the £1M mark. And no, you can't charge it to expenses.

Less than a week to go - a vote for any party candidate on June 4th is a vote for corruption. 4th June is Independent's day - vote Jury Team, and take away the politicians toys.

Fame at last!!!

Tonight saw a little piece of electoral history made, with the first ever Party Election Broadcast by the Jury Team (Actually, it aired on GBC in Gibraltar last night, which makes it a first for the South West).

Anyway, me and Mrs B had a starring role in the broadcast (fleeting shot, left hand side, 3 rows back at the recent team launch). At least the subsequent texts from my friends prove that someone was watching.

I'll be milking my new found fame - I'm available for weddings, bar-mitzvahs, funerals, after dinner speeches...in fact I'm open to offers - have Elvis costume, will travel (and as I told a colleague this afternoon, I'm licenced to carry out religeous and civil ceremonies in all states of the US, apart from New York....but thats another story)

MPs hard done by? I think not....

I'm getting a bit sick of our discredited representatives whining on that the allowances were only there to make up for low pay. I found a very interesting piece on the BBC which nails the lie.

The average weekly income for a couple with no children is £390 per week after tax and benefits. An MP, with no children and assuming a non-working partner has a weekly salary of over £800.....this puts them above 91% of the population, or about 55 million people.

Add in the expenses, and the weekly total goes up to around £1,100 per week - this puts them at around the 96% mark, or put another way, they earn more than 58 million people. A working partner takes them even further up the household income scale.

Keep these figures in mind the next time you see one of these hard done by wretches making excuses for fiddling the system to the max. Keep it in mind when you hear of pensioners dieing of hypothermia over the winter, because they can't afford to put the heating on. Keep it in mind when you hear of families struggling to keep a roof over their heads. Keep it in mind on June 4th when you go to the polls.

A vote for a party candidate is a vote for greed. June 4th is Independent's day - vote Jury Team to end the sleaze.

An open challenge to David Cameron

This is the text of an email I have today sent to David Cameron, challenging him to take decisive action against MPs who are stepping down at the next General Election following exposure in the recent expenses scandal.

Today saw the launch of "A New Politics" - well, lets see him put his money where his mouth is. The challenge is there Mr Cameron: whose interests do you truly represent, the people or MPs exposed for their outrageous claims against the public purse?

"Dear Mr Cameron,

I am standing as an Independent candidate, under the Jury Team umbrella, in the June European Elections because I believe politics is broken. The actions of some of your colleagues in Westminster and Brussels have enraged the public, and trust in our elected representatives is at an all time low.

Your policy initiatives for electoral reform, improvements to democratic accountability, and radical redistribution of power announced today therefore interest me greatly - I would however like to ask a question:

Where Conservative MPs implicated in the current expenses scandal have indicated that they will stand down at the next General Election, why have you not withdrawn the whip and publically demanded that they step down immediately and call for by-elections? By remaining in-post until the next General Election, they qualify for additional payments in the form of "resettlement" payments of 50%-100% of a years salary. As party leader (and presumably Prime Minister in waiting) you have a moral obligation to assert some leadership, yet by doing nothing you effectively condone their actions and allow them a consolation prize for being exposed.

If you are serious about re-building trust in politicians, then I challenge you to take action to cut out the cancer that is killing parliamentary democracy.

Yours sincerely


Bill Barnett
Jury Team Candidate, South West region, European Parliamentary Elections 2009
www.southwestindependent.eu
www.juryteamsouthwest.eu "

What links the following?

Winterton (Con)
Winterton (Con)
Chapman (Lab)
Viggers (Con)
Steen (Con)
Hogg (Con)
MacKay (Con)
McCartney (Lab)

but not...
Martin (Lab)???

Well, apart from Martin, they are all going to stand down at the next election, following exposure of their expenses in the media. I've been trying to figure out why none of the above (apart from Martin) are biting the bullet, and resigning immediately...and then I found out that MPs who stand down or are not re-elected at a General Election receive a final "resettlement" payment of between 50% and 100% of a years salary (currently £64,766)....oh, and the first £30k is tax free. This is in addition to the "winding up allowance" of £40,799 to terminate leases, and pay off staff (who could include spouses, partners, children, elderly parents, mistresses etc). MPs who quit mid-term do not qualify for the "resettlement grant"....and neither would those who voluntarily step down at a General Election, had Speaker Martin not vetoed the proposal earlier this month.

So what of Speaker Martin? He'll be applying for the post of Crown Steward and Bailiff of the Chiltern Hundreds in June, and then on to catch his next gravy train in the Lords.

Makes me sick that even when they are caught out, they still find a way to keep filling their pockets at public expense.