May 2008 15

Snouts in the Trough: Nick Clegg MP12

The headlines in the paper should read: ‘Multimillionaire claims taxpayer money for house renovation’. 

Snouts_in_troughIt was revealed yesterday that the multimillionare leader of the Liberal Democrats – Nick Clegg, the MP for Sheffield Hallam – claimed just over £7,000 of parliamentary expenses to renovate his Sheffield home, installing new curtains and other upgrades.  This marks the culmination of a strong campaign by the blogger Guido Fawkes and rightly exposes the snouts-in-the-trough mentality of our political class. 

When was the last time you were given £7k for your home improvements?  While the rest of the country works, earns and saves to make their home their castle, Clegg and other politicians fleece you for their own home improvements.  As always it’s one rule for them, one for the rest of us.

So we now do what we do best – hold him to account.  Ask him why he decided to hand us the bill for his home improvements.  Furthermore, if you live in his constituency go and see him.  Here are the contact details for Nick Clegg as well as the contact number for you to book an appointment at his surgery.

Nick Clegg M.P. 85 Nethergreen Road, Sheffield S11 7EH
Tel: 0114 230 9002 Fax: 0114 230 9614
Email: [email protected]
Nick holds regular advice surgeries for constituents. To make an appointment please contact the constituency office on 0114 230 9002

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  • http://joeotten.blogspot.com Joe Otten

    Er, or you could chase up all the MPs who haven’t published their expenses?

  • Roger

    Joe, you are correct, many others MPs are crooks and I look forward to further embarrassing revelations.
    What makes this more amusing is that Clegg is also a hyocrite. First he makes a fuss about transparency and disclosure. Then, after four weeks of badgering we find out that we have paid for him to renovate his home and buy new curtains.

  • Robert Tressell

    I asked my local MP,a conservative,Jonathan Djanogly(Heir to Fathers fortune),about his expenses and his second job(City Lawyer)and he refused to meet me and took the hump big style saying i had all the information i was “entitled to”.Its a disgrace.What can we do?

  • http://joeotten.blogspot.com Joe Otten

    Roger, how so? He promised to do this a while ago and he has now done it. Clearly he has been busy with local elections until now which has a higher priority than counting receipts.
    If the whole expenses game does get reformed now, it will be thanks to Clegg’s leadership on the issue.

  • Graeme Pirie

    Seems to me that Clegg wanted his out of the way first under the assumption that the case would be lost and there would be plenty other expenses released after his for us to moan about.
    I certainly don’t see from the list that he’s acted more “honourably” than any of the rest of them.
    The big issue for me is not so much the “second home”, accomodation in London (for non-london MPs) is part of the job, but that they twist the system to fund their main homes. How on earth is Clegg allowed to spend OUR money on his main home?
    We also need to be asking if these are classed as “benefits in kind” by HMRC – curtains on his main home is certainly not a “business expense” that any of us mere mortals would get off with….

  • http://joeotten.blogspot.com Joe Otten

    AFAIK Clegg’s home in London is his main home. His family at least seem to be based in London.

  • http://www.democracymovement.org.uk Stuart Coster

    So now they’re buying run-down houses, getting the taxpayer to foot the renovations bill, and pocketing the resulting increased value when the property eventually is sold.
    It’s like watching an episode of Property Ladder … only, knowing you’re paying the bills. Argh!

  • Roger

    Joe, Clegg claimed to campaign against abuse of MPs expenses yet gets us tax payers to pay for his curtains and wall paper. Smells like hypocrisy to me. He might not have broken any rules but its not very principled is it?
    I see you are a paid up Libdem. Why is it that political acitivists are often blind to the failings of their own side?

  • http://joeotten.blogspot.com Joe Otten

    I think psychology explains the blindness we all have to the failings of our allies.
    I agree that the allowance is unduly generous, but surely you shouldn’t have to turn something down in order to think it is worth opposing in principle? And these do look like genuine costs for a second home needed for the job – not like, say, the MP – I forget which – who put an already-owned home into a trust, rented it from the trust and claimed that rent from Parliament.

  • Roger

    Principled politicians lead by example. Clegg has proved he is not one of those. To me, as a impartial observer, he looks like a politician who saw an opportunity to jump on a popular campaign and now looks foolish.
    It is the Wintertons who claim rent on a flat they had given to their children. Yes, I agree that is more egregious, though like Clegg they broke no rules.

  • Paula

    Is the UK asking too much?
    All we need is 645 honourable people.

  • http://profile.typekey.com/lanes1977/ lanes

    i feel that until Britain stands up together and says no more and unites together to stop all this unfairness , we the public are going to get no-where and these people will get away with it time after time after all in the end we actually are the ones supplying this government with the money to squander , what are they going to do put us in prison ! they cant even keep criminals in there