More details emerge about liar, criminal and ex MP Chris Huhne every day which are guaranteed to nauseate. The windfarm and global warming nutter made his ex wife have an abortion for the sake of his career (she says) and there was a mistress prior to the lesbian he hooked up with before ditching the ex Mrs Huhne. This is all pretty unpleasant but is a private matter. What matters is the money.
Multi millionaire Huhne always played the expenses game aggressively – claiming for the cost of a Trouser Press amongst other things. And days before quitting as an MP – when he knew that the game was almost up – he happily claimed for an Ipad (at £700) and stiffed the taxpayer with an expenses claim. Various of his smug colleagues demand he repay that sum to deflect from the real question: why the hell does an MP need an Ipad anyway and why the hell should the taxpayer pay for it?
How many other sleazy MPs have bought an Ipad and put it on expenses?
The real kick in the groin for the taxpayer is that Huhne will get a £70,000 payoff for standing down as an MP. Just imagine that you were suddenly exposed as a liar and a criminal and were days away from going to prison. What would your employer say? I somehow doubt that it would be “okay resign and here is one year’s salary as compensation.” Now Nick Clegg and other MPs are starting to get huffy puffy about this payoff too, pointing out that Huhne is loaded anyway.
His wealth is a side issue. That is just playing to the rabble with envy politics. There is no point in Huhne simply not taking the £70,000 as a one off gesture (well it would be good of him) – if MPs were serious and not just showing faux outrage hey would change the system (and should have done it ages ago) so that any MP (or Lord) who is found guilty or pleads guilty to a criminal case gets not a cent of compensation. And our esteemed leaders should not be able to quit (and get compensation) if they are under investigation just to jump the payoff gun.
Rush that rule change through and the moral pressure on Huhne to not claim his £70,000 increases. So why are MPs not happy to agree to that simple change in the rules for all MPs?