From Nadine Dorries’ Blog. Republished Without Permission.
This is a photo of troughing Tory MP Nadine Dorries at the Classical Brit awards. The British taxpayer pays over £20,000 a year to maintain her constituency home in Bedfordshire, because she declares she lives at her main home – in the Cotswolds!
Dorries has admitted deliberately concealing from her constituents that she has her main home neither in her constituency, nor near Parliament.
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2009/05/iain_dale_is_a.html#comments
Dorries’ guest and escort on this occasion, the one looking slightly less stupid in the photo, is Iain Dale, the Tory blogger. Dale has robustly defended Dorries’ home claim on the taxpayer on his blog as “Within the rules”. At the same time, Dale has condemned as “Shameless” Dorries’ fellow Bedfordshire MP, Margaret Moran, for having her second home in Southampton, which Dale calls “100 miles from the constituency and 100 miles from London”.
Just like the Cotswolds, in fact. So why is the same thing OK for Dorries but shameless for Moran? Because Dorries is Tory, Moran is Labour and Dale is a hypocrite.
But at least he has a fun and free social life.
Update: More good stuff on Nadine Dorries’ expenses here. I hope that the good voters of North Norfolk note that Dale endorses all of this, and continue to have the good sense to reject him at the ballot box.
http://www.liberalconspiracy.org/2009/05/17/more-questions-about-nadine-dorries-expenses/
Which part of your story justifies your headline describing Dale as a ‘troughing Tory’? He has no expense account.
Only very slightly less!
David,
The photo, actually. He didn’t pay for his ticket.
Obviously, and beyond any shadow of a doubt there is no bias in the copious amounts of verbiage on Ian’s blog. He has managed to get near the seat of power, and high on “indole” has made up his mind “independently”, to get on with some “independent” punditry, all in the way of getting rewarded by the next little invite as the last one to some irrelevant self congratulatory party, along with the rest of the ne’er-do-wells.
Thanks to Craig, now we can rate Ian’s objectivity and credibility, without any reference to the clikometers.
So everyone who attended the Classical Brits without paying for a ticket is a “trougher”? You have a picture of Jonathan Ansell there – should you not refer to him as a “trougher” too? Which trough is it you refer to anyway? This is thin stuff.
So who was this friend that stayed in a hotel on NYE, apparently taking advantage of Nadine’s membership in a dodgy fashion, and (almost) enjoying their stay courtesy of the taxpayer? Ad why won’t Nadine answer the question about a similar stay a few days before Christmas?
The real story here is the stupidity of Dorries in incriminating herself: in her rebuttal of expenses allegations on her OWN blog, she amusingly admitted to staying most of the time as her SECOND HOME!
Rob,
No, not everyone. For some it would be a rare, welcome and well deserved treat.
For party hacks it is just one date in a packed troughing calendar.
May we look forward to a full disclosure of all the events and receptions that you attended without payment as one of Her Majesty’s representatives overseas?
You really are insufferable.
I should be very happy for the FCO to release all my records. I think all public expenses should be public.
I’ve no doubt that Mr Dale would be delighted for all his engagements at the cost of HMG to be detailed too.
Since there is no question of the FCO or HGM undertaking either exercise, your point is irrelevant.
Why don’t you devote yourself to campaigning for open government, rather than making juvenile attacks on someone that has actually done a pretty good job of starting on the road to improved transparency in government?
David, Iain Dale has gained what power he has by demanding transparency/accountability from others, but he has a track record of refusing to live up to the same standards he demands of others (including those NOT funded by the taxpayer).
Plus, I’m sure he’s capable of defending himself… possibly even under his own name, should it come to that.
Margaret Moran claimed taxpayers money for a second home which was neither in her constituency or in Westminster. It was 100 miles away in Southampton. Nadine Dorries claims on a second home in her constituency. How you can equate the two defies logic. But you clearly have an agenda here.
David, forgive me if I respond seriously.
My super lifestyle was no secret. You can read all about it in two books.
I was much higher up the troughing pecking order than Iain is now, and had a troughing ticket quite literally for life. Including the most magnificent index-linked pension. If my career had continued to progress as expected and it had done, I might have expected to retire at 60 with a pension worth at least £70,000 per year at today’s values, index linked and for life.
All I had to do was go along quietly with the lies involved in the Bush/Blair War on Terror, and especially with torture.
I couldn’t do it, and I handed in my ticket to the trough.
So please don’t try to tar me with this brush. People know who I am and what I have done. It does you no credit.
Iain,
Why did she need to claim a second home in her constituency. Was she living at a first home at Parliament? No, she was living in the Cotswolds!
Who else can you find who supports the idea that, if you are claiming accommodation, your two homes should be anywhere other than in London and the constituency?
Ya know Craig,
whilst bored one day a the old keyboard, im managed to send an email to david cameron. The question was basically how long before put to have an act equivalent to http://www.taf.org implemented.
one of those same old replies, that he would look at it when he was PM, or words to that effect…..wrong answer!
I’m sure you could start another peition to introduce a similar act….I see efficiency savings all over the place…
“Nadine Dorries claims on a second home in her constituency. ”
But Iain, before desperately back-pedalling on her rant, Nadine herself showed that her constituency home is her first home. The place in the Cotswolds is for holidays/breaks – and it’s a lonnnnnnng way from London regardless of what one believes about her latest story.
(Psst! Very much like you did recently, she insists that her excuse for this odd arrangement remain top secret. Are you advising her on media strategy?)
This is a good answer to the jibe that I should instead campaign for open governemt. If Dale ever does anything as radically open as this, let me know:
Good rumbling Tim!
David Bycott at May 18, 2009 1:05 PM…
*****************
Tim Ireland at May 18, 2009 1:13 PM – “Plus, I’m sure he’s capable of defending himself… possibly even under his own name, should it come to that.”
*****************
Iain Dale at May 18, 2009 1:26 PM…
Oh no! You’ve become a Dale-baiter, how boring.
Craig
Have to agree with Mrs Dale – it does awfully sound like you’ve got an agenda. Only you can stop the forest fire etc etc.
Richard
Craig, there are many MPs who don’t have their first homes in Westminster or in their constituencies. It can be for a number of reasons. In her case it was to do with her family.
I’ve made clear that if it was me I would have my main home in the constituency, as I promised in North Norfolk. But what is right for one individual might not be right for the other. Surely the point is that any claim on the taxpayer has to be for a consituency home or in Westminster. Margaret Moran’s was neither, which is why you were wrong to draw the analogy. Perhaps you’d be good enough to admit that.
“In her case it was to do with her family.”
And it’s a sekrit! All very familiar territory. I’ll ask again; are you advising Nainde Dorries on her media strategy, Iain?
“Surely the point is that any claim on the taxpayer has to be for a consituency home or in Westminster. ”
Surely the point is that this applies to second homes, not first homes. Where do the dogs live, Iain?
“Perhaps you’d be good enough to admit that.”
Perhaps you’d be good enough to discuss malicious claims on your website that you know to be false and refuse to even discuss. Hypocrite.
This is a testcomment.
http://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2009/05/dorries_and_dal.html#comments
I don’t particularly care about the rules because MPs made the rules for themselves.
I believe that:
If someone can afford to have two homes then they should not be using tax-payers’ money to claim for a third.
If someone is claiming tax-payers’ money for a home then they should actually be living in it. It should be a home they are using, essential to their ability to do their job, and not just something they are investing in for personal profit.
If someone does have three homes then I do not see the distinction between them claiming tax-payers’ money on home A, or home B or home C, regardless of which home is which. Which home the claim is attributed to does not change the fact there are three homes and that the tax-payers’ money is being taken when the MP clearly does not require it.
If an MP is elected to a constituency and they live in another area then they should move to the constituency. Sell their existing house, if they have to, and move. MPs who don’t like it should not become MPs.
If an MP doesn’t live — as in spend most of their time — in their constituency or in London then they can’t possibly be doing a proper job and should resign or move.
If tax-payers are paying for any houses then they should be owned by the state, not by the MPs who were living in them during their brief time in office. Then the tax-payers would only have to buy one home per constituency instead of one per MP. We don’t buy another house on Downing Street every time we get a new Prime Minister, do we?
I believe there’s a snowball’s chance in hell of these rules ever being improved because the people the rules affect are the people who define the rules.
Sigh.
Here’s some extra data to help Iain Dale, Phil ‘Dizzy’ Hendren etc. understand why/where Nadine may be taking advantage of the taxpayer:
Nadine Dorries: Distance from Bedford to Westminster – 55 miles | Distance from [secret location in Cotswolds] to Westminster – 85 miles
So how does this home that Nadine currently claims to be her second home better enable her as an MP? Does the fresh air make her more relaxed? Is the landlord more to her liking than the ‘dodgy’ one she’s been moaning about?
They certainly don’t like it up ’em.
Very like the Mail readers whose comments appear below an article about the torture of Binyam Mohammed. I feel shame that I inhabit the same country as these right wing people so full of hate.
MI5 ‘used Muslim 007’ to turn British torture victim in Moroccan prison
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1183183/MI5-used-Muslim-007-turn-British-torture-victim-Moroccan-prison.html
A link on medialens says that the original article had been pulled and another byline given.
‘I still stand by this interpretation of the significance of David Rose’s revelations about “Informant A,” but while I wait to see if other media outlets will pick up on this extremely important story, which takes us clearly into the realm of “war crimes,” Ben Six, on the website Back Towards The Locus, has noted that Rose’s original article was replaced on the Mail on Sunday’s website yesterday afternoon, with an edited version credited to Vanessa Allen. The revised version still contains the revelation about the existence of “Informant A,” but contains significantly less background detail, and, as I await an explanation of why the original article was pulled, I thought it was worthwhile to reproduce it here:
MI5 ‘Used Muslim 007’ to Turn British Torture Victim in Moroccan Prison
by David Rose, Mail on Sunday, 17 May 2009
http://www.andyworthington.co.uk/2009/05/18/daily-mail-pulls-story-about-binyam-mohamed-and-british-spy/
Original article:
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/05/17
I feel you’re going waaaaay over the top in your criticism of Iain Dale. The Nadine Dorries non-story is unravelling beautifully as I write, and seems to have been confected out of deliberately placed misinformation. Shades of the Damian McBride school of fact-verification, perhaps?
Furthermore, it’s hardly your place to speculate with quite such certainty as to what streams of income Dale might or might not relinquish if he were to become an MP. I consider it highly likely that he would concentrate upon being a constituency MP, to the exclusion of other activities. Let’s face it, the maintenance of the very successful blog would constitute a legitimate element of his work, and would continue to generate an income, without detracting from his mainstream responsibilities. Anyway, he hasn’t even been selected as a prospective candidate yet, so your high-minded criticism rings even more hollow.
This exaggeratedly bitter critique of yours seems altogether unworthy of you.
Iain Dale has already failed the torture challenge. When he was putting his ‘Little Red Book of Labour Sleaze’ together, he came up with over 50 examples but somehow this supporter of the Iraq war overlooked the Iraq war (though ‘David Kelly commits suicide’ rated a mention) *and* the use of torture by our ‘allies’ in T.W.A.T.
I had to campaign for the inclusion of torture and write the chapter myself. Dale showed how much he cared by not even taking the time to proof-read it.
Is Dale the tit on the left?