High Class Welfare!
THE TELEGRAPH: Senior Conservatives have subsidised their country estates at taxpayers’ expense, with the upkeep of swimming pools, clearance of moats and even the salaries of domestic staff, all claimed on parliamentary expenses.

The Daily Telegraph discloses how Tory grandees have received tens of thousands of pounds to maintain manor houses and stately homes. One claimed successfully towards the cost of a full-time housekeeper with a salary package of £14,000 a year, along with a claim including £2,000 for clearing the moat surrounding his manor house. Another was allowed to claim for a “helipad” to be maintained.

David Cameron, the Conservative leader, was understood to be “appalled” by the latest allegations and was considering taking disciplinary action. Tories who have broken the rules on expenses could be sacked, Mr Cameron has suggested.

The disclosures will further alarm taxpayers and add to concern over the operation of the House of Commons fees office, which is supposed to police the parliamentary expenses system. MPs' Expenses: Paying Bills for Tory Grandees >>> By Robert Winnett, Deputy Political Editor | Tuesday, May 12, 2009

MAIL Online: MPs' EXPENSES: Lord Tebbit Defies Tories to Tell Voters: 'Don't Vote for ANY Party in European Elections'

Lord Tebbit. Photo courtesy of MailOnline
Lord Tebbit is risking expulsion from the Conservatives after urging voters not to back the party in next month's European elections.

The former Tory chairman said the vote gave anyone outraged by MPs' abuse of expenses an 'ideal opportunity' to send a message to all three main parties by not voting for any of them.

The call from a senior party grandee is an extraordinary challenge to David Cameron's authority in the run-up to the June 4 poll.

In an interview with the Daily Mail, 78-year-old Lord Tebbit said it was clear that Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat MPs had been behaving like 'welfare junkies' addicted to abusing their Commons allowances.

'Local elections, the great British public should treat just as normal,' he said. 'But at the European elections, in my judgment they should send a very sharp message to the leaders of the three national parties by not voting for any of the national party candidates.'

Norman Tebbit, who was one of Margaret Thatcher's closest allies, refused to say which of the smaller parties he believed voters should back.

'I wouldn't seek to give any advice on that,' he said. 'But if there was an enormous fall in the vote for the major parties, the message might get through.' >>> By James Chapman | Tuesday, May 12, 2009

'The BNP Are Now a Bigger Threat Than Ever'
THE INDEPENDENT: Labour fears the far right will win its first European seats in June, Harriet Harman tells Andrew Grice

Labour is facing its biggest threat from the BNP, Harriet Harman admits today, as the party gears up to prevent the far right group from winning its first seats in nationwide elections this June for the European Parliament.

In an interview with The Independent Ms Harman, the Leader of the Commons, who is heading Labour's election effort in in her role as the party's chairman and deputy leader, said Labour was launching its biggest-ever campaign targeting the BNP. "It is a worry," she said. "Certainly they [the BNP] are a bigger threat than they have been before."

Labour fears the BNP could land two or three seats in the European elections, which are fought under a proportional representation (PR) system based on huge regional constituencies. Labour believes the BNP threat is greatest in the North West, where its leader, Nick Griffin, is a candidate; Yorkshire and the Humber and the East and West Midlands. >>> Andrew Grice | Friday, April 10, 2009