23 December - Christmas hospitality from H.M.P.
Another one bites the dust! From Bexley MP James Brokenshire’s predecessor to Labour MP
Denis MacShane, Mick Barnbrook has brought down half a dozen MPs with his many
complaints about them. Five have finished up in prison for malpractices for
which Mick was the principal complainant. Denis MacShane was
sentenced to six months today.
MPs can now breathe more easily, Mick has assured me he has no intention of reporting any more
MPs, he says he is fully occupied as a member of the Bexley Action Group following up wrong doing
by Bexley councillors and officers and the police officers who protect them.
The text below is taken from the report on MacShane’s false accounting by the
Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards. As you can see, those pursuing
political wrong-doing have to be very patient people.
Mick Barnbrook complained about the following politicians…
• Janet Anderson, former Labour MP for Rossendale and Darwen. Allowed to
secretly repay £5,750 in over claimed petty cash.
• Brian Binley, Conservative MP for Northampton South. Wrongly
claimed £57,000 for accommodation. Not repaid.
• David Chaytor, Labour MP for Bury North. 18 months
imprisonment for false accounting.
• Ian Clement, deputy to Boris Johnson, Mayor of London. Suspended 12 week
prison sentence for abuse of his GLA credit card.
• Ian Clement, leader of Bexley council. No action taken over his use
of a Bexley council purchasing card and unjustified expense claims.
• Harry Cohen, Labour MP for Leyton and Wanstead.
Resigned, forfeiting £65,000 from his resettlement grant for “serious
breaches” of parliamentary rules.
• Jim Devine, Labour MP for Livingston. 16 months imprisonment for false accounting.
• Eric Illsley, Labour MP for Barnsley Central. 12 months
imprisonment for false accounting.
• Denis MacShane, Labour MP for Rotherham. Asked to repay
£1,573.03 of wrongly claimed expenses. Six months’ imprisonment.
• Elliott Morley, Labour MP for Scunthorpe. 16 months imprisonment
for false accounting (mortgage fraud).
• David Tredinnick, former Conservative MP for
Bosworth. Resigned over various expense irregularities.
• Nicholas Winterton, Conservative MP for Macclesfield.
Claimed rent on a flat he owned outright. Retired from politics.
• Anne Winterton, Conservative MP for Congleton. As above.
… but was not the sole complainant in every case.