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Jacqui Smith uses taxpayer money to buy porn...
Former Member
Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
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What a load of bollocks.
I claim expenses and mileage in the course of my job. I log everything meticulously because I know that unlike her if I add it up incorrectly or make a false claim I'll be sacked.
If it were anyone of us we'd have been sacked long ago, she's a vile woman.
Well because that's blatantly over the line, but there's no reason they shouldn't be able to claim for the internet as they do need to use it to work. I think in this case it was just an oversight, whether that's because it's just the done thing i.e. there is a culture of not being too fussed or whether because it was a genuine mistake I couldn't say.
But I do think there is a danger of becoming so obsessed with expense reports that it stops the real work getting done. Yes, don't let them have a luxury holiday or a mansion in france on an expense report, but where do we draw the line? If they go on a trip related to their work and get a hotel and breakfast, but at the breakfast bar buy a marsbar for later, would you expect them to spend the time subtracting the marsbar from their expenses? (if they had the one invoice from the hotel i mean)
Remember the newspapers have hundreds of journalists employed just to find out little tidbits like this and blow it out of proportion. So I think we should exercise a little discretion in judging them on trying to con us out of a tv package when they get paid near enough a 6 figure salary anyway.
edit: look at it this way, if an MP gets that mars bar and doesn't declare it as a non deductable expense or something the daily mail will try and get that MP publicly hung pretty much. We, the people, are the shareholders of this country in that sense. If the director of say barclays did the same, the shareholders wouldn't really care - they should just care about the performance of the company. As long as he's not taking the absolute piss, if it makes him more comfortable and look after the thousands of pounds we've got invested then go for it.
I don't think in this case she was just trying to pull a fast one, it seems to be a case of everyone overlooking this expense and the tabloids getting hold of it and going to town. Of course none of us know the full details however.
I don't understand how someone trying to set up the internet could order specific, pay-per-view movies by mistake.
I don't understand why she has only said she will repay the money, instead of telling us that she already did it however many weeks ago it was, ie she's only going now because she got caught.
I've accidentally clamed the same milage twice, and you don't pay the money back, you contra it off your next expenses claim
Why on earth would you pay for porn. Hasnt he heard of X tube
The story is funny because they were porn films, which Mr Smith was watching at his leasure while the missus was out, but otherwise this is indeed the biggest non-story to grace us for quite some time.
What a nasty thought. Mr Smith, flopping on the sofa, trousers and underpants around his knees, a box of Kleenex to one side ....
Nope. I don't even wanna go there. :no:
A new dining table?
A £1k fireplace?
Two widescreen TVs?
Just a few of the other items that she has claimed are reasonable expenses. And she's only one MP. I doubt she's an exception.
Okay thats abit of a joke then. I didnt know about that.
Burn her at the stake! Off with her head!
If you're with virgin media you get internet, tv, phone in one bill including and pay-per-view stuff.
It's just because they're porn, and the holier-than-thou Daily Heil can't have that.
It provides a nice distraction from far more serious problems both government and country have, so I guess this must actually be a welcome development for the government. Well done to the Hate on Sunday for aiding the Labour government it despises so much.
Exactly.
Maybe, but it doesn't take a rocket scientist to know the difference.
What's interesting about this is that Jacqui has clearly been talking to her cabinet colleague Tessa Jowell about how to handle this. When it emerged that David Mills (Tessa's hubby) may have taken bribes from Silvio Berlusconi, she later claimed she had no idea how Mills paid off the mortgage. We then saw a staged seperation, done in order to save Jowell's bacon. Similar things are already happening here - Smith is pretending that she had nothing to do with this, despite the fact she signed the expenses application in question. What bets that in the next few days, we will see another "seperation" taking place? These people are so incestuous, it's creepy.
The money for the two porn films is inconsequential, in the scale of things. What is really obscene is the fact she has swindled £116k in expenses on extremely disingenious grounds, and not offered to pay back a single penny of that. If anyone in a private company did that, they'd be sacked and probably end up in court. But MPs have deliberately orchestrated a system which means the standards that apply to everyone else, does not apply to them, so what can we expect?
If Die Jackboot had any shred of decency, she would have already resigned because of the £116k matter. But she won't - nor will she be sacked. Gordon Brown, her boss, is the man who felt it necessary to claim for his Sky Sports subscription, the skinflint cunt. He's just as tainted as the rest of them.
UPDATE: Pollyanna Toynbee's attempt today to defend our politicians is here. She claims that the media are exaggerating these scandals and that they are "frivolous compared with serious investigations such as the Guardian's arduous and risky revelations on company tax avoidance". Yes, because Grauniad Media Group pay all their taxes, don't they?
ANOTHER UPDATE: Playboy is now offering discounted subscriptions to all MPs and their husbands. It's called the "Jacq off special". Too much information...
Once is painful enough.
Haha so true. Blaming the husband and denying all knowledge is hilarious. They have probably got a sex lair in their basement.
Although for legal reasons, they haven't.