Will Mr Cameron face criminal charges?

[Vague_Boy]

In a discussion programme on the expenses scandal this morning it was revealed that David Cameron claimed hundreds of thousands of pounds of taxpayer’s money to pay for the mortgage on one of his mansions. This would be outrageous in any situation but Mr Cameron is a multi-millionaire so surely this makes it far worse.

 

Mansions? Hundreds of thousands of pounds? Why not go the whole hog and claim that he got his top hats on expenses, plus a silver plated stick with which to beat poor people?

 

The actual facts (far less sensationalist than Keith Rich would have you believe) can be found here.

 

David Cameron 'used the system' to claim £21,000 in a year to pay his mortgage

 

 

And if we're arresting Cameron, what about all the MPs who've falsely claimed properties as second homes, then flipped them for a massive profit.

 

i.e.

 

MPs’ expenses: Margaret Moran sells taxpayer-funded Luton home for £177,000 profit

 

Margaret Moran, the disgraced MP, is selling her taxpayer-funded constituency house for a £177,000 profit.

 

She “flipped” her second home designation to the house for just one year but in that time used £22,341 of public money on it, which included the installation of a new central heating system and bathroom, a complete overhaul of the garden and the redecoration of several rooms.

 

(Margaret Moran is, or rather was, a Labour MP by the way.)

 

Or

 

More than 230 MPs have 'flipped' the second home on which they claim expenses, figures have revealed.

 

The practice became notorious last year when it emerged that some MPs had repeatedly changed the designation of their second home in order to maximise the expenses they could claim from the taxpayer.

 

But figures slipped out by the Commons authorities yesterday revealed for the first time the extraordinary extent of the practice - prompting claims that many MPs had used their expenses to pursue lucrative sidelines in property development.

Link

[ukdobby]

It makes my blood boil when you hear the leaders quoting as making mistakes......my arse,they worked a fiddle,scam,rip off whatever you want to call it made legal by these leeches and all who have taken should be held up to dry.

[beryllium]

Last time I checked, he's got a house near Handswroth, close to the Asda off the Parkway. Been there years so I can only assume he's paid off the mortgage there and moved the cost out to this rented place.

 

Not the best of ideas considering the state of opinion on expenses, but he does live and work in the city, and I'm sure you can see him (or any MP) for more than just 1.5 hours a month.

 

 

Yes, you are right there's an article about it here. It's all very odd!

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article708341.ece

[Sausage Dog]

Interestingly.

 

Sir Thomas initially ordered lawmakers to pay back a total of £1.3 million, but the amount was reduced to £1.12 million following successful appeals by 44 lawmakers. Mr. Brown was ordered to repay £13,000, mostly in excessive claims for a maid.

 

Cameron also claimed to have wisteria removed from his chimney. You and I would have to pay for that ourselves, so why should a millionaire MP claim for it at the tax payers expense.

[Sausage Dog]

I suspect the crime of being leader of a political party that isn't Labour. Do you think Tony Blair will face criminal charges over the illegal wars or his tax affairs?

 

I'd like to think so, but he's just as slimey as Cameron, so no doubt he won't

[HeadingNorth]

Cameron also claimed to have wisteria removed from his chimney. You and I would have to pay for that ourselves, so why should a millionaire MP claim for it at the tax payers expense.

 

Actually, if I needed to have two homes because of my job, I'd claim it on expenses if it were the second home that required it to be done.

[Sausage Dog]

Actually, if I needed to have two homes because of my job, I'd claim it on expenses if it were the second home that required it to be done.

 

I think it is fair enough that the tax payer contributes to the cost of a second home for things like mortgage interest or rent, council tax and utilities, but where the home is owned (not rented) by the MP then they should be responsible for maintence cost. I'd feel ashamed if I was a millionaire and put in a claim for routine maintenace on my second home - which I'm already claiming the maximum amount of mortgage interest on (what was it, over £20K a year in Cameron's case?)

[HeadingNorth]

I think it is fair enough that the tax payer contributes to the cost of a second home for things like mortgage interest or rent, council tax and utilities, but where the home is owned (not rented) by the MP then they should be responsible for maintence cost.

 

 

Not a chance. If my job requires me to have a second home, then my employer is paying for all costs associated with it.

[Sausage Dog]

Not a chance. If my job requires me to have a second home, then my employer is paying for all costs associated with it.

 

Well, we 'll have to agree to disagree.