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WITH ever mounting evidence verified by a reputable UK publication - The Telegraph previously did an extensive exposé about the Browns' alleged propensity for passing the buck to the common people in favour of allegedly alleviating their own pockets when it suits them - Raggie Jessy of the blog The Third Force is back to tell us about this lurid, yet suppressed (at least by Sarawak Report) piece of relatively recent history that is too blatant too ignore.
The fact that the whole episode went unpunished justifies the repeated retelling of it to as wide an audience as possible.
Also, the fact that one of the members of the Brown clan is currently and actively slandering Malaysians in every angle that she can frame her bogus stories from - chiefly of which is the anti-corruption angle - serves to factualise the abject and unbridled hypocrisy that is clearly being displayed by this self-appointed crusading 'journalist'.
Or a "half-past-six" journalist in Malaysian parlance.
– The NINE QUESTIONS Panel
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2. RELATED: IN THE LATEST SALVO BY RAGGIE JESSY/THE THIRD FORCE, CLARE BROWN'S ALREADY SEMI-EXPOSED SKIRT IS LIFTED FOR ALL AND SUNDRY TO SEE
2. RELATED: IN THE LATEST SALVO BY RAGGIE JESSY/THE THIRD FORCE, CLARE BROWN'S ALREADY SEMI-EXPOSED SKIRT IS LIFTED FOR ALL AND SUNDRY TO SEE
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CLARE BROWN AND THE RM110 MILLION EXPENSES SCANDAL THAT ROCKED BRITISH PARLIAMENT
In Malaysia, Gordon would have been investigated by the Parliamentary Accounts Committee (PAC), the Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM), MACC, the Attorney General’s chambers and Bank Negara (BNM) just the way Dato’ Seri Najib Tun Razak was. Yet, he got off scot free in the UK despite paying members of his immediate family with hard-earned taxpayer-money just to clean his Westminster flat!
REPORTED BY THE THIRD FORCE
On the 4th of November 2009, at 6.48 GMT, Sean Noonan of the Stratfor Global Intelligence team sent an email concerning cuts in expenses that were imposed upon British lawmakers. In the email, Noonan referred to a report that spoke of questionable claims made by British Members of Parliament (MPs), leaked to The Telegraph by an unidentified government official.Noonan was referring to the United Kingdom (UK) Parliamentary Expenses Scandal (PES), a major blow to the premiership of Gordon Brown that violently rocked the British House of Commons. In May 2009, Gordon came under intense scrutiny both by the media and the British parliament following revelations that he used taxpayers’ money to pay his wife (Sarah Brown), brother (Andrew Brown) and sister in-law (Clare Rewcastle Brown) to manage his housekeeping.
Noonan’s mail came months after his colleague, Lauren Goodrich, pointed out in another email that the crisis had cost Gordon at the polls and was bound to bring his premiership to an end. And she was right – amid public outrage over the scandal and the lack of commitment towards criminal prosecutions (which did eventually take place in 2010), support for Gordon’s Labour party took its worst beating ever in a century during the local elections held on the 4th of June 2009 for all of UK’s 27 County Councils.
On the 8th of May that year, The Telegraph shocked the nation when it spread the entire list of MPs and their expenses claims in print (see also screenshot below). The findings by the British daily – which, for the record, were legit and never challenged by Gordon – included details of a house swap arrangement that allowed the then premier to transfer his claims under the Additional Costs Allowance (ACA).
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| MP'S EXPENSES: FULL LIST OF MPs INVESTIGATED BY THE TELEGRAPH All of the MPs named by The Telegraph's Expenses Files investigation. |
According to The Telegraph’s Rosa Prince and Holly Watt (see also screenshot below), Gordon made the transfer on the 17th of September 2006, just 10 days after his predecessor, Tony Blair, announced that he would resign as Prime Minister the following year. Back then, Gordon was the Chancellor of Exchequer, a position equivalent to the post of Finance Minister in Malaysia.
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| MP'S EXPENSES: GORDON BROWN'S HOUSE SWAP THAT LET HIM CLAIM THOUSANDS Gordon Brown used his Parliamentary allowances to boost his expenses claims by switching his designated second home shortly before he moved into Downing Street upon becoming Prime Minister. |
The daily wrote:
“Until then, Mr Brown had declared a flat in Westminster as his second home for the purposes of his allowances, despite having the use of a taxpayer-funded apartment in Downing Street.
“It was there that he and his wife, Sarah, paid his brother, Andrew, a high-flying executive, £241.30 a month for “cleaning services”. The payments later increased to £262."
Among the items Gordon was reimbursed for were as follows:
1. lightbulbs worth £15 and a £265 John Lewis vacuum cleaner.
2. the expense of installing a £9,000 Ikea kitchen at the Westminster flat. The claims were spread to cover two financial years, allowing Gordon to remain within the annual ACA budget of just over £21,000.
3. the expense of hiring a cleaner at a rate of £10.50 an hour
4. the expense of hiring a gardener at a rate of nearly £1,500 a year to maintain the garden overlooking the Firth of Forth.
5. expenses related to calling in Rentokill to deal with an infestation of mice at the property, at a cost to the taxpayer of £352.
Some of the other claims Gordon regularly submitted included those for food, his Sky TV subscription, dry cleaning and newspaper bills. Initially, the former premier attempted to go on the offensive by pretending not to know what happened. But when news of Andrew and Ms. Rewcastle’s involvement went to print, he conceded ‘defeat’ and issued a public apology on behalf of “all politicians” involved over what happened.
Yes, all politicians.
On 18th of June 2009, the details of MP-claims for the period 2004 to 2008 were published on the official Parliament website. The list included details of voluntary repayments linked to fraudulent claims that may have been worth over five million British pounds! That’s equivalent to £20 million by today’s standards, or more than RM110 million worth of taxpayer money that just went down the drain in meaningless claims.
But none of that broke the headlines as much as Gordon’s house swap arrangement and the involvement of Andrew and Ms. Rewcastle did. In 2011, a year after setting up Sarawak Report, Ms. Rewcastle insisted that Gordon’s arrangement with the cleaner was “later judged to be wholly legitimate.” But that is a horrible lie.
The truth is, Andrew had undertaken to sue a British newspaper over claims that he “pocketed improper payments” made by Gordon on expenses. His solicitor, Chris Scott, told Mr Justice Eady at the High Court that the prominent article, which also appeared online, was headed “Zero tolerance for scum who exploit expenses”.
Read between the lines, and you will see that the claim made by Scotland on Sunday was in fact libellous, as it wrongly accused Andrew of receiving corrupt payments under the guise of reimbursement for cleaning services. But that is not the issue the British House of Commons and the public at large had with Gordon or Andrew.
The House was more concerned that Gordon had abused his power by paying his own family members using taxpayer money. The public was furious that the former premier refused to step down and withheld a public inquiry into the matter. What infuriated them most was that, apart from an apology, Gordon went about business as usual without pressing for a probe by national law enforcement agencies into the matter.
– TTF
“My poor husband Andrew,” recalled Ms. Rewcastle, “was the face on the front page on the first day of the expenses scandal, which was pretty damn unfair.” But the House of Commons did not share her view. Several of its MPs viewed Gordon’s actions as the deliberate act of criminal malfeasance and abuse of position by a public official to receive gratification.
In Malaysia, Gordon would have been investigated by the Parliamentary Accounts Committee (PAC), the Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM), MACC, the Attorney General’s chambers and Bank Negara (BNM) just the way Dato’ Seri Najib Tun Razak was. Yet, he got off scot free in the UK despite paying members of his immediate family with hard-earned taxpayer-money just to clean his Westminster flat!
Did Ms. Rewcastle not realise this?
Where was her conscience when she accused Najib of stealing money from 1MDB to enrich his family? What happened to the truckloads of “smoking gun evidences” she published via Sarawak Report that she claimed “would hold in any court of law, anywhere in the world?” On the 30th of August 2017, she failed to offer even a shred of it despite being given months by a London Court to do so. So how can anyone trust whatever she says anymore?
– TTF
Ironically, she never questioned her brother in-law over his failure to initiate a Special Task Force of sorts into the British expenses scandal. If she’s so hell bent on defending truth and justice, why has she yet to write a piece questioning Gordon’s ethics and moral scruples over the way he handled the expenses cock-up? The last I checked, our Prime Minister even went so far as to allow members of the Malaysian opposition to investigate 1MDB via the PAC.
Did Gordon do that?
And yet, Ms. Rewcastle told reporters that the negative publicity her husband and Gordon received was “pretty damn unfair.” Yes, she finds it “pretty damn unfair” that her own husband and brother in-law were implicated of fraud, but calls TTF “a propaganda blog” when I speak the same of my Prime Minister.
Now do you see what pisses me off?
Note: Title was corrected. Figure involved is more than RM110 million, not RM11 million('Clare Brown and the RM110 Million Expenses Scandal that Rocked British Parliament.' – The Third Force, September 7, 2017)
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1. CLARE BROWN AND THE RM110 MILLION EXPENSES SCANDAL THAT ROCKED BRITISH PARLIAMENT
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RELATED: IN THE LATEST SALVO BY RAGGIE JESSY/THE THIRD FORCE, CLARE BROWN'S ALREADY SEMI-EXPOSED SKIRT IS LIFTED FOR ALL AND SUNDRY TO SEE
POSTED ON THE NINE QUESTIONS BLOG
In what seems to be developing into a very public and acidic spat between two giants of electronic media, Raggie Jessy or The Third Force fires another blow to the Sarawak Report camp with the revelation of Clare Rewcastle Brown's murky, yet suppressed past.
For those who have sighted this aspect of her past life, it is worth a revisit. For those who hasn't, enjoy the revelation, in the well-crafted flowing style that The Third Force is known for by now.
– The NINE QUESTIONS Panel
– The NINE QUESTIONS Panel
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2A.
2B. RELATED: MP'S EXPENSES: HOW BROWN AND HIS CABINET EXPLOIT EXPENSES SYSTEM
2C. RELATED: MP'S EXPENSES: GORDON BROWN'S HOUSE SWAP THAT LET HIM CLAIM THOUSANDS
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EVIDENCE SURFACES THAT CLARE BROWN AND HUBBY STOLE TAXPAYERS' MONEY
The scandal was deemed by the British House of Commons as a deliberate act of criminal malfeasance on Gordon’s part and an abuse of position by a public official to receive gratification. Ms. Rewcastle took the heat off herself and her husband by gallantly defending Gordon, saying, “He definitely needed a cleaner when in London, and it was part of his expenses entitlement”.
REPORTED BY THE THIRD FORCE via MALAYSIA TODAY
The Third Force (TTF) is a propaganda blog, says Clare Rewcastle Brown.According to the Chief Editor of Sarawak Report, TTF “is not a news portal, but a habitually libellous propaganda blog that shouldn’t have been cited by any newspaper.” Ironically, this lady chose to air her fury via Free Malaysia Today (FMT), a Nelson Fernandez run portal that received RM12 million from John Soh between the years 2009 and 2014.
Even more ironical is the fact that the article was written by a Nawar Firdaws, an FMT columnist who was seen intimately dancing with the DAP’s Zairil Christopher in several photos at a drinking hole in the Hartamas area. Despite repeated claims by bloggers and freelance writers of the illicit love affair, FMT and the DAP remained tight lipped about the whole thing and went so far as to censor reports that even so much as mentioned Zairil’s name for several days.
– TTF
Now, doesn’t this go a long way to show just how credibly and morally unsound FMT is? And is it just a coincidence that Nawar, having been accused of flirting with someone known to be a Lim Kit Siang apologist and stooge, was Ms. Rewcastle’s choice of a ‘journalist’ to take pot-shots at TTF?
But then, it is not as if the FMT editorial came as a ‘huge surprise’ to me.
After all, it takes one fake news portal to know another, which explains just why FMT religiously features claims made by Sarawak Report, including the infamous one where Ms. Rewcastle ‘mocked’ PAS president Dato’ Seri Abdul Hadi Awang for failing to sue her.
The said article, published by FMT on the 8th of April 2017, quoted the disgraced British journalist as saying that PAS failed to sue her despite threatening to do so. The Sarawak Report chief editor was referring to a letter of demand that Hadi’s United Kingdom (UK) lawyers issued her portal on the 13th of December 2016.
“They threatened to sue me within a week if I didn’t do lots of things in mid-December… but didn’t,” she said.
But she may have spoken too soon.
Nineteen days after that cocky and sarcastic jibe, Hadi got his lawyers to file a defamation suit against her and Sarawak Report at a High Court in London. The suit pertained allegations made by Sarawak Report that the Prime Minister of Malaysia, Dato’ Seri Najib Tun Razak, had solicited political favours from Hadi by offering the latter a RM90 million bribe.
Ideally, the suit should have been the ‘chance of a lifetime’ for Ms. Rewcastle to prove what she had been saying all along, that the Prime Minister of Malaysia was criminally perverse and morally corrupt, enough to offer bribes just to tighten his grip on government. Instead, she failed to offer the London Court even a shred of the “smoking gun evidence” she claimed to possess despite being given months to do so.
And that’s not all.
This lady, who “personifies herself to be the defender of truth and justice,” even had the cheek to tell the presiding judge that she ignored past letters sent by Hadi’s lawyers as none of the others she received ended in court battles. She made that bold yet reckless claim during a Case Management hearing on the 6th of August 2017 that was called to decide the amount Hadi needed to deposit with the court as security.
Now isn’t that tantamount to telling the judge that you’re a habitual delinquent?
And yet, she labelled my portal a “habitually libellous propaganda blog” that the mainstream media should keep a ten-foot pole distance from. Tell me, who is this white piece of trash to dictate terms to the Malaysian mainstream media? How can anyone trust a lady who conspired with her own husband to defraud British taxpayers of their hard-earned money between the years 2004 and 2006?
– TTF
And that, my friends, is not fake news, but the legitimate findings of the British House of Commons as reported by The Telegraph on 8th of May 2009 (screen capture below). The British daily implied that the then Prime Minister of the UK, Gordon Brown, had abused his position in power by “paying his brother” using taxpayer money “for cleaning services at his private flat at Westminter.”
And just in case you are wondering who Gordon’s brother is, think no further – he is none other than Andrew Brown, Ms. Rewcastle’s partner in wedlock. According to the daily, receipts submitted by Gordon to the Parliamentary authorities disclosed that between 2004 and 2006, he paid Andrew £6,577 (worth some £21,000 by today’s standards) over 26 months just to clean his flat!
And if that isn’t enough evidence to convince you just how corrupt the Browns are, following is the cut-and-dry proof (also reproduced below) that will tell you the kind of trash this white spin-master of a journalist is:
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RECEIPT FOR CLEANING SERVICES, JAN-MAR 2006PAYMENTS RECEIVED FROM GORDON & SARAH BROWN FOR CLEANING
SERVICES AT [XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX]
Date | Amount
January 06 | £241.30
February 06 | £241.30
March 06 | £241.30
TOTAL | £723.90
THESE PAYMENTS WERE RECEIVED BY ME AND PAID FOR CLEANING SERVICES, AS DESCRIBED ABOVE, THE INLAND REVENUE EMPLOYER'S PAYE REFERENCE NO IS [XXXXX]
ANDREW BROWN
[XXXXXXXXXXX]
[XXXXXXXXXXX]
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PAYMENTS RECEIVED FROM GORDON & SARAH BROWN FOR CLEANING
SERVICES AT FLAT XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX]
July 04 | £241.30
August 04 | £241.30
September 04 | £241.30
TOTAL | £723.90
THESE PAYMENTS WERE RECEIVED BY ME AND PAID FOR CLEANING SERVICES, AS DESCRIBED ABOVE, THE INLAND REVENUE EMPLOYER'S PAYE REFERENCE NO IS [XXXXX]
ANDREW BROWN
[XXXXXXXXXXX]
[XXXXXXXXXXX]
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SERVICES AT FLAT XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX]
Date | Amount
July 05 | £241.30
August 05 | £241.30
September 05 | £241.30
TOTAL | £723.90
THESE PAYMENTS WERE RECEIVED BY ME AND PAID FOR CLEANING SERVICES, AS DESCRIBED ABOVE, THE INLAND REVENUE EMPLOYER'S PAYE REFERENCE NO IS [XXXXX]
ANDREW BROWN
[XXXXXXXXXXX]
[XXXXXXXXXXX]
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SERVICES AT FLAT XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX]
Date | Amount
July 04 | £241.30
August 04 | £241.30
September 04 | £241.30
TOTAL | £723.90
THESE PAYMENTS WERE RECEIVED BY ME AND PAID FOR CLEANING SERVICES, AS DESCRIBED ABOVE, THE INLAND REVENUE EMPLOYER'S PAYE REFERENCE NO IS [XXXXX]
ANDREW BROWN
[XXXXXXXXXXX]
[XXXXXXXXXXX]
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Now do you believe me?Suffice to say, the scandal was deemed by the British House of Commons as a deliberate act of criminal malfeasance on Gordon’s part and an abuse of position by a public official to receive gratification. Ms. Rewcastle took the heat off herself and her husband by gallantly defending Gordon, saying, “He definitely needed a cleaner when in London, and it was part of his expenses entitlement.”But that’s not all.She went on to insist that her brother in-law was “extremely scrupulous and conscientious in these matters,” calling the negative publicity her husband received “pretty damn unfair.” Yes, to Ms. Rewcastle, it is “pretty damn unfair” when her own husband is implicated in a conspiracy to siphon taxpayer money through a family member holding office. She believes herself and her husband to be “victims of circumstance,” but calls TTF “a propaganda blog” when I speak of a complicity that may have turned Najib and his family into “victims of circumstance.”Can you imagine this lady?And this is the same lady who, despite being given ample time to file and serve her defence, failed to furnish a London Court with the “smoking gun evidences” she claimed to possess against the administration of Najib Razak. Her failure to do so past the 30th of August 2017 deadline goes a long way to show just how ‘credible’ the stories she published via Sarawak Report are.
– TTF
And when TTF pointed that out to Malaysians, the white trash went running straight to Nelson Fernandez and Nawar Firdaws, the only two people she knew would ‘prostitute’ for her in the world wide web.
Note: A contextual error contained within the article was corrected at 6.34am, the 5th of August 2017.('Evidence Surfaces that Clare Brown and Hubby Stole Taxpayers' Money.' – The Third Force via Malaysia Today, September 4, 2017)
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2A. EVIDENCE SURFACES THAT CLARE BROWN AND HUBBY STOLE TAXPAYERS' MONEY
2B.
2C. RELATED: MP EXPENSES: GORDON BROWN'S HOUSE SWAP THAT LET HIM CLAIM THOUSANDS
2B.
2C. RELATED: MP EXPENSES: GORDON BROWN'S HOUSE SWAP THAT LET HIM CLAIM THOUSANDS
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RELATED: MP'S EXPENSES: HOW BROWN AND HIS CABINET EXPLOIT EXPENSES SYSTEM
Gordon Brown and his most senior ministers are facing questions over their use of parliamentary expenses after the Daily Telegraph revealed details of their claims.
REPORTED BY THE TELEGRAPH
MAY 8, 2009 –
The Prime Minister is revealed to have paid his brother for “cleaning services” at his private flat in Westminster. Jack Straw, the Justice Secretary, admitted that he had over-claimed for both his council tax and mortgage bills.
The disclosures show the scale of ministers’ claims and the extent to which politicians have exploited the expenses system to subsidise their lifestyles.
The Prime Minister is among 13 members of the Cabinet facing questions over their use of Parliamentary expenses. On Thursday, after being approached by The Daily Telegraph, Mr Brown repaid a plumbing bill he had claimed for twice during 2006.
Receipts submitted by the Prime Minister to the Parliamentary authorities disclosed that between 2004 and 2006, he paid Andrew Brown for cleaning at his flat. Andrew Brown, a senior executive at EDF Energy, received £6,577 over 26 months. Last night, the Prime Minister’s office said he shared a cleaner with his brother. In a statement, No10 said Mr Brown “reimbursed him [the brother] for his share of the cost”.
The statement is likely to give rise to questions as to why the Prime Minister did not simply lodge receipts directly from the cleaner. He has directly employed other cleaners.
However, the payments to Andrew Brown would not have been disclosed under controversial laws allowing the personal information to be blacked out from the publicly-released documents.
The disclosure of the expenses of the Cabinet raises questions about the parliamentary expenses system, coming within weeks of disclosures over questionable claims made by Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary.
This summer, MPs are due to publish a detailed breakdown of claims.
However, The Daily Telegraph begins a series of articles today that detail the scandal of members’ expenses across all parties. Many of the claims go beyond what members of the public would find acceptable.
The disclosures underline the need for urgent reform of the system amid fears that the spending of taxpayers’ money was not being appropriately monitored.
It can be disclosed that:
* Jack Straw, the Justice Secretary, received a 50 per cent discount on his council tax from his local authority but claimed the full amount. He discovered the “mistake” last summer within weeks of the High Court ordering that MPs release details of their expenses. He has repaid the money.
* Lord Mandelson, the Business Secretary, claimed thousands of pounds to improve his constituency home after he had announced his resignation as an MP. He sold the property for a profit of £136,000.
* Hazel Blears, the Communities Secretary, claimed for three different properties in a single year. She spent almost £5,000 on furniture in three months after buying the third flat in an upmarket area of London.
* David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, spent hundreds of pounds on gardening at his constituency home — leading his gardener to question whether it was necessary to spend the money on pot plants “given [the] relatively short time you’ll be here”.
* Alistair Darling, the Chancellor, changed his official “second home” designation four times in four years.
* Geoff Hoon, the Transport Secretary, also switched his second home, which allowed him to extensively improve his family home in Derbyshire before buying a London town house also funded by the taxpayer.
* Andy Burnham, the Culture Secretary, Caroline Flint, the Minister for Europe, and Paul Murphy, the Welsh Secretary, also bought flats — or the freehold on a property they already owned — and claimed stamp duty and other moving costs. Mr Burnham warned the parliamentary authorities that his wife might divorce him if expenses were not paid promptly.
In a statement issued on Thursday night, Downing Street defended Mr Brown’s claims.
The statement said: “At all times the Prime Minister has acted with the full approval of the parliamentary authorities. In relation to the cleaning services, Mr Gordon Brown and Mr Andrew Brown employed one cleaner who worked for both of them, the majority of time for Gordon Brown. Payment was made directly to her by Mr Andrew Brown for the work in both flats. Mr Gordon Brown reimbursed him for his share of the cost. Of course, Mr Andrew Brown did not receive any financial benefit.”
Several senior ministers were repeatedly warned by the parliamentary authorities and had claims rejected or withheld.
This newspaper uncovered evidence suggesting that the second homes allowance, which allows annual claims of up to £24,222, has been exploited by dozens of MPs and is in need of immediate reform. In many cases, the House of Commons fees office uncovered serious wrongdoing but the MPs implicated were not independently investigated.
The rules governing the Parliamentary expenses system are notoriously lax and difficult to interpret. The main principle is that the second home must be “wholly, exclusively and necessarily incurred from the purpose of performing your Parliamentary duties”.
Some Cabinet ministers appear to have far more straightforward claims than those highlighted today.
Ed Miliband, the Energy and Climate Secretary, claimed only £6,300 a year in rent for a modest home in his constituency. He also claimed utility and council tax bills. Alan Johnson, the Health Secretary, claimed for only his constituency home over the past four years. He also rented a modest property but claimed for food and some furniture. Hilary Benn, the Environment Secretary, claimed only £147.78 in food.
Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: "There can be no greater proof of the need for urgent and wholesale reform of MPs' expenses than the fact that so many people at the top of government have been making such dubious claims.
"Taxpayers will be appalled that the rot in parliament seems to go right to the Cabinet and even Downing Street."
Harriet Harman, Labour's Leader of the Commons, gave a series of late-night broadcast interviews on Thursday night following the Daily Telegraph revelations.
She said that expenses were only paid out after being judged to be within the rules by the Commons Fees Office. But she accepted that the rules needed to change.
"The claims are assessed and only paid out by the House of Commons Fees Office if they believe it's a claim within the rules and that the MP is entitled to be paid out on that claim," she said.
"I'm not justifying the system as it was, I'm saying that the claims that were made by Members of Parliament were made under the system as it was.
"The old system was the system that those claims were made under. We've recognised that, though they might have been claims made in good faith, that's not acceptable for the future and we are changing the system.
"We want to be sure of two things - firstly that MPs are able to do their job in their constituencies and in Westminster, and secondly that public money is not misused and the public have confidence in the allowance system."
For the avoidance of doubt, The Daily Telegraph does not allege that the Prime Minister’s brother, Andrew Brown, received any improper benefit from the Prime Minister’s expense claim for cleaning services. The Daily Telegraph accepts that the sums received by him from the Prime Minister were duly paid to their shared cleaner for services rendered to the Prime Minister and his wife.('MP's Expenses: How Brown and His Cabinet Exploit Expenses System.' – The Telegraph, May 8, 2009)
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2A. EVIDENCE SURFACES THAT CLARE BROWN AND HUBBY STOLE TAXPAYERS' MONEY
2B. RELATED: MP'S EXPENSESL HOW BROWN AND HIS CABINET EXPLOIT EXPENSES SYSTEM
2C.
2B. RELATED: MP'S EXPENSESL HOW BROWN AND HIS CABINET EXPLOIT EXPENSES SYSTEM
2C.
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RELATED: MP'S EXPENSES: GORDON BROWN'S HOUSE SWAP THAT LET HIM CLAIM THOUSANDS
Gordon Brown used his Parliamentary allowances to boost his expenses claims by switching his designated second home shortly before he moved into Downing Street upon becoming Prime Minister.
REPORTED BY THE TELEGRAPH
MAY 8, 2009 –
Taking advantage of the opportunity presented by the grace and favour apartment at No 10, Mr Brown signed a declaration stating that he wished to transfer his claims under the Additional Costs Allowance (ACA), which MPs may use to fund a second home, to his Scottish constituency house.
By doing this, he was entitled to claim most of the running costs of the detached property in North Queensferry, Fife, including a gardener and cleaner, and carry out extensive repairs and redecoration at public expense .
He made the transfer on September 17, 2006 – 10 days after Tony Blair announced that he would resign as prime minister the following year.
Until then, Mr Brown had declared a flat in Westminster as his second home for the purposes of his allowances, despite having the use of a taxpayer-funded apartment in Downing Street.
It was there that he and his wife, Sarah, paid his brother, Andrew, a high-flying executive, £241.30 a month for “cleaning services”. The payments later increased to £262.
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RELATED ARTICLES
• Gordon Brown's expenses 2004-05 19 Jun 2009
• Gordon Brown's expenses 2005-06 19 Jun 2009
• Gordon Brown's expenses 2006-07 19 Jun 2009
• Gordon Brown's expenses 2007-08 19 Jun 2009
• Gordon Brown's expenses 2008-09 19 Jun 2009
• MP's expenses: Gordon Brown's response 08 May 2009
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Like other MPs from all parties, the Prime Minister regularly used his Parliamentary allowance to make repairs, carry out decorating projects and buy furnishings. He sent receipts for wallpaper, a fridge, floor tiles and other costs to the Commons fees office.Among the items he was reimbursed for were lightbulbs worth £15 and a £265 John Lewis vacuum cleaner.In 2005, the expense of installing a £9,000 Ikea kitchen at the Westminster flat was apparently spread over separate claims covering two financial years, allowing him to remain within the annual ACA budget of just over £21,000.As Chancellor, Mr Brown declined to live in the grace and favour flat he was entitled to at Downing Street, instead charging the £650-a-month mortgage interest payments, utility bills, council tax, telephone expenses and television licence for the Westminster property to his Commons allowances.He appears to have paid for little of his own living costs since moving into No10 on becoming Prime Minister nearly two years ago.While he did not claim mortgage interest payments on the Fife home, other costs, including cleaning and gardening, were submitted. His cleaner cost £10.50 an hour, while the gardener charged nearly £1,500 a year to maintain the garden overlooking the Firth of Forth.Mr Brown also submitted claims for incidental expenses – such as calling in Rentokill to deal with an infestation of mice at the property, at a cost to the taxpayer of £352.In 2006, he accidentally submitted the same bill, for £153 for plumbing work at the Fife home, twice, and was paid accordingly on each occasion. Yesterday, a spokesman told The Daily Telegraph: “The bill which had been accepted by the fees office was inadvertently assigned to two quarters. When this inadvertent error was discovered, the amount was immediately repaid.”The Prime Minister is believed to have repaid the second bill yesterday after being approached by The Daily Telegraph.In February 2007, he hired plumbers out to fix a blocked lavatory and charged the £88.13 bill to his allowances.Mr Brown’s expenses claims, signed in his famous large felt-tipped pen but clearly filled in by another hand, include regular correspondence with the House of Commons fees office.In 2004, there was a dispute over payment for £105 children’s window blinds, which was rejected by the fees office on the grounds that items for children are not permissible.
A response was sent on “Gordon and Sarah Brown” headed paper, reading: “The Peter Jones receipt for window blinds for London accommodation needs to be reimbursed.
“Marked as noah’s (sic) animals on the receipt.”
On the department store’s website, the item is described as a “children’s blind”.
He also regularly submitted claims for food, as well as for his Sky TV subscription, dry cleaning and newspaper bills.
Name: Gordon Brown
Job: Prime Minister
Salary: £194,250
Second home in Westminster: 1st January 2006 – 31st March 2006
Ground rent: £37
Food: £650
Utilities: £374.38
Telephone: £83.70
Cleaning: £1403.90
Service/Maintenance: £581.87
Repairs: £90.14
Other: £108 (three months of Sky at £36 a month)
Other: £1396 (internal decoration)
For the avoidance of doubt, The Daily Telegraph does not allege that the Prime Minister’s brother, Andrew Brown, received any improper benefit from the Prime Minister’s expense claim for cleaning services. The Daily Telegraph accepts that the sums received by him from the Prime Minister were duly paid to their shared cleaner for services rendered to the Prime Minister and his wife.(MP's Expenses: Gordon Brown's House Swap that Let Him Claim Thousands.'' – The Telegraph, May 8, 2009)
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The NINE QUESTIONS Blog will return with more facts and 🍿.
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