Inside Europe's corruption capital: how Bulgaria and Romania's crime mafia plunders EU grant money

Just a year after these former corner of the Soviet empire became part of the European Union, their country lanes roar to the sound of brand new four-wheel drives, while alongside tumbledown peasant cottages have sprung up smart new villas.
Among the locals sipping brandy in the village bars, there is little doubt what the most lucrative annual harvest is these days. It comes not from the soil or the vine, but from piles of grant application forms marked "Sapard".
Officially the "Special Accession Programme for Agriculture and Rural Development", Sapard is the multi-billion pound Brussels fund set up to help former Eastern Bloc countries drag their backward farming sectors into the modern world. But in Bulgaria and neighbouring Romania, farm workers are already proving quick to spot what their colleagues in France, Italy and Spain first noticed 30 years ago - that as with any generous subsidies administered from afar, it is ripe for fraud.

I went last month to a farming town where the locals asked me 'Do you know how to recognise somebody round here who has got a Sapard grant?'" said Bulgarian MP Atanas Atanasov, an outpoken critic of his country's corruption record, which is the worst of all 27 EU nations.
"They said, 'Just look for the people driving the most expensive SUVs.' It isn't accidental that these people have suddenly got so much money, and it isn't just in that one town either. It's everywhere."

Tories finally expel MEP over misuse of funds

By Michael Savage, Political Correspondent
Thursday, 13 November 2008

An MEP who channelled more than £500,000 of allowances into a business run by his wife and daughter has been expelled from the Conservative Party. Den Dover, who used to be the party's chief whip in Europe, was dismissed after David Cameron learnt that a European Parliament investigation had found major discrepancies in his use of allowances.

read more: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/tories-expel-mep-over-misuse-of-funds-1015829.html

Prince fears he will be silenced by becoming King

By Robert Jobson, 09/11/2008. News of the World.


PRINCE Charles will turn 60 this week. He is the longest serving heir to the throne in British history—and he is still waiting. As as he posed for birthday portraits at Clarence House, it must have crossed his mind: “Will I ever be King— and do I even want the job?”Our 82-year-old Queen is still in fine health, and her mother lived until she was 101, so it is possible Charles could be 80 before he ascends, Their longevity is understandable, in accordance with protocol, two or three hundred people are in attendance to their every whim and ailment twenty four hours every day. Money, a source of stress in itself, never has been a problem, or, indeed, can it be ever mentioned. Their perhaps one major upset being when the Royal yacht Brittanica was removed from the establishment, they all visibly cried. One can sympathize at such a loss.

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It is hardly to be felt this subject is relevant after the happenings with our transatlantic friends and the epoch of Mr Tony Blair's insistence on human rights, political correctness, multiculturalism along with his wife Cherie, both making millions of pounds from these noble causes. As we all know, anyone even hinting that there is reverse "racism" (a word of their invention) in their work or any other deep, dubious aspect to their joint policy, is dealt with instantly by the iron fist of totalitarianism. I was speaking to Mr Keith Vaz only yesterday, his enthusiasm for this remarkable transition in the West knew no bounds. No, he does not wish to be Prime minister, quite willing to leave that grind to bleary eyed Gordon. Keith feels that the present incumbent at the end of the Mall has been there quite long enough, as Robert Jobson pointed out and as with the voting patterns, desires, wishes of Islam and immigrants, he would be King, indeed, should be King, his right, setting his mark in history by being the first black Muslim as the emblem of the Realm. " Vaz the First". His relentless ambition would then be satiated. A thousand years of history overturned. Vast, black masses will throng the Mall, endlessly chanting of his name. he enthused. He does have precisely the qualifications, relentlessness and attributes of the ruling class, the rich, the arrogant, to rule Britain. Multiculturalism and Blair both proving their ultimate point. The mere fact that Blair and Cherie have quietly departed with their millions at what has been proved to be a impeccable piece of timing, no doubt both fully aware of these portentous events unfolding and the possible bearing on their now situation. No elections, no formalities, just the faint wave to their few close friends before leaving the country and Britain in the hands of whomever. Aside, Keith admitted, perhaps apologetically, that he would feel comfortable in ermine, also, the smooth, hard touch of precious stones always induced in him a strong sense of achievement. He added, as he rushed off, something about liking the look and atmosphere of Buckingham Palace, one or two alterations in keeping with his religion and taste would, however, be required, a few minarets, possibly. A jolly good fellow, I might add.

suspicion

Many non-Muslims think that Islam is just another religion like Christianity or Judaism. If that were so, Powell’s views about Muslims would be correct. However, religious Muslims are the first to say that Islam is NOT like other religions, that Islam is a complete way of life which organizes all aspects of life and society and the world. That is what differentiates Islam fundamentally from other religions. This is not my personal opinion; this is the view of all Islamic scholars and religious authorities; and you can easily verify that for yourself. Therefore, if Islam is, in fact, NOT like other religions, then it would be wrong to treat Muslims like we treat members of other religions. Yes, there is reason to at least suspect Muslims of adherence to a totalitarian and imperialistic ideology whereas we would not harbor the same suspicion toward followers of other religions. The other religions do not have the ideological element that Islam has.

Posted by Monte Doro

Cat charity's racketeers pain

Cats Protection has become one of the largest charity victims of the Icelandic banking crisis, with £11.2million at risk.
Plans for a series of new adoption centres for abandoned and unwanted cats could be in jeopardy because of its investments in Kaupthing Singer and Friedlander banks.

The charity - which shortened its name from the Cats Protection League in 1998 - helps 142,000 cats and kittens a year through its nationwide network of 256 voluntary-run i.e. no wage bill…. branches and 29 adoption centres.

A frontman for the racket said: 'Cats Protection would like to assert that, whilst upsetting, this news will have no impact at all on the charity's day to day operation. CP is still well placed to live within its means - this news makes no threat to the charity's ability to pay bills, salaries, support its network of branches or most importantly, provide for the cats in its care.

'Cats Protection believes there is a case to be made to the Treasury that its deposits are public money that has been donated for us to help cats and provide benefits to the public. The charity feels strongly that it’s deposits should be safeguarded.'

Still plenty of cash flowing about for the sin and tonics

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Cheriegate flat selling at bargain basement price as the Blairs feel the impact of the credit crunch

Last updated at 1:26 AM on 11th October 2008
By Neil Sears

Tony and Cherie Blair are on the verge of selling one of two flats they bought with the help of a convicted fraudster.
A media storm engulfed their purchase of the Bristol properties in 2002 because of the involvement of Peter Foster, an Australian who was jailed in his homeland last year.
The Blairs are said to have accepted an offer slightly below their £285,000 asking price, meaning they will be able to turn only a modest profit. In February an almost identical flat in the same block changed hands for £305,000.
They paid £262,500 for each property in the upmarket Clifton area of Bristol, a figure which included a £69,000 discount negotiated by Foster after a reported six weeks of haggling.

At the time of the 'Cherigate' purchase, Foster was dating Mrs. Blair's confidande Carole Caplin, the former topless model.

When the Daily Mail revealed he had helped purchase the flats, Mrs Blair tried to issue a denial. The old tart running true to form

Palace denies Queen to spend £7m on private 'Heir Force One'

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 1:19 PM on 27th September 2008

The Queen is taking a great personal interest in the design of the Royal private jet
Buckingham Palace remained tight lipped today about newspaper reports that the Queen plans to buy a private jet - the first of her 50-year reign.
Four firms have allegedly been asked to submit designs for the executive £7m aircraft, which will be for the sole use of the royal family and its pets, reports The Sun.
Her Majesty is said to be taking a very personal interest in its design. She was even heard asking 'Where will the corgis sit?' a source told the tabloid.

Haider is our Lady Di'

• 
• • Kate Connolly
  • The Guardian,
  • Saturday October 18 2008
  As you are fully aware, the answer is yes. Just needs a further slide into recession and push will become shove...
  

Rule Brittania

Camilla's 60 birthday presents for Charles...one for every year of his life

By Katie Nicholl
Last updated at 11:47 PM on 18th October 2008

Prince Charles has already raised eyebrows by having not one but two birthday parties, and now his wife Camilla is planning to give him 60 individual gifts - one to mark every year of his life.

The presents, which friends describe as a 'labour of love', include a pair of walking boots, a personalised fly fishing rod and his favourite episodes of The Goon Show.


The only Goons are us, paying for the rubbish ,all contexts.

Labor MP Keith Vaz and 21st Century Royalty

Brilliant !

Today's leader should have been the ..............."Fall and Fall of England "

The shots of Thief Vaz and the woman flat on her back, legs wide open, showing all her possessions, complete with roller skates, were emphatic.

Tony will be celebrated like Winston Churchill, claims Cherie Blair

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 3:54 PM on 30th September 2008

Cherie Blair has compared her husband to Britain's greatest wartime leader.The ex-Prime Minister’s wife praised Tony Blair's political career in an interview with Vanity Fair magazine

Pair of the biggest crooks and contortionists in recent British History. Obviously with more front than Selfridges. Blair is set to be the richest Ex Prime Minister.

Reality for the Filthy Rich

I'm too terrified of jail to carry on, says eco-warrior

Benedict Moore-Bridger 15.10.08

"but the reality of it was terrifying.

The judge made it pretty clear. I am definitely not doing anything or taking a role in front-line demonstrating"

Reality has always been a concept in the distance for the rich, especially for their little bitches, right down through the ages .

Could be, hopefully, we are in for the same catastrophe as the Black Death when the rich (our betters) had to clean their own shoes.

Beatrice the bunny girl! Pictures of princess partying in Thailand on her gap year

By Rebecca English

Last updated at 11:15 PM on 17th October 2008

Larking around in sunglasses and 'bunny girl' ears made from drinking straws, it is very much an unofficial portrait of the Queen's granddaughter.

What are you looking for ? your name in the honours list ?

These creatures are "larking about" on our money. For how much longer...... is a interesting conjecture.

"The only gap she'll ever have is between her legs"

Had one too many? Worse-for-wear Prezza found fast asleep on QE2's final voyage

By Paul Harris

Last updated at 1:45 AM on 18th October 2008

Perhaps it was the emotional stress of saying goodbye to an old friend when the QE2 embarked on her final voyage.

Or maybe it was one too many nightcaps.
For whatever reason, John Prescott was to be found fast asleep in a chair after a long day aboard the luxury liner QE2 on its final voyage from Southampton to Scotland.

With multiple chins on his chest and one hand protecting his valuables, the former deputy prime minister slept through the loud music and bustle of people around him - and was still snoring, a permanent pastime when he is not chasing secretaries...

The face of politics. You left out Baron Mendelson.

Pipeline War, the iminent cataclism and the 8000 pounds handbag and my trip to Barbados

.... and I do like to be beside the seaside... said Mr. Cameron

The Pipeline War: Russian bear goes for West's jugular.

By Svetlana Skarbo and Jonathan PetreLast updated at 3:06 AM on 10th August 2008. D.M.

The war in Georgia escalated dangerously last night after Russian jets reportedly bombed a vital pipeline that supplies oil to the West.

The Pipeline War: Georgia calls for ceasefire as Russia 'bombs military airport near Tblisi'

By Daily Mail ReporterLast updated at 5:21 PM on 10th August 2008

• 2,000 civilians now feared dead
• Russia takes the South Ossetian capital of Tskhinvali
• Georgia calls for a ceasefire in the stricken region
• Refugee crisis as 40,000 flee

Action girl Kate spends time with her Prince charming on their 'honeymoon' hideaway

By Sharon Churcher and Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 1:38 AM on 10th August 2008

Sporting a sexy black and white bikini she could have been any woman happily in love and spending quality time with her boyfriend on holiday. And Prince William looked equally as smitten as he and girlfriend Kate Middleton relaxed and soaked up the Caribbean sunshine.

Surfer dude Dave Cameron and his beach babe Sam make waves in the surf

Last updated at 4:02 PM on 10th August 2008.D.M.

With his slicked back hair, toned pecs and trendy wet suit he could be any surfer dude, catching the waves on a trendy Cornish beach. But this isn't your average beach bum - instead the man with 'peak' emblazoned across his chest is leader of the Conservative party, David Cameron.
'Life as a WAG is lonely and horrible - even if I spent £8,000 a week on clothes and bags,'

Suzanne Franklin reveals

By Anthonia Hoyle
Last updated at 2:39 AM on 10th August 2008.D.M.

There is a metallic gold leather Jimmy Choo handbag at the back of Suzanne Franklin’s wardrobe. It is called a Riki, it costs £1,000 and is the ultimate in sartorial status symbols. Yet Suzanne hasn’t so much as admired its silk lining for six months because for her, it is no longer an item of beauty but a stark reminder of a life she has left behind. It was a life that, on the surface, screamed glamour and excess. Dating a £25,000-a-week Premier League footballer, she was sucked into a heady whirlwind of designer clothes, expensive restaurants and celebrity-laden nightclubs.

Syria Expected to Reach Arms Deals

22 August 2008By Oleg Shchedrov / ReutersSOCHI

Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad backed Russia's military action against Georgia at talks with President Dmitry Medvedev on Thursday that were expected to cover purchases of Russian arms. A diplomatic source in Moscow told Interfax on Wednesday that Russia and Syria were preparing a number of deals involving anti-aircraft and anti-tank missile systems. Syria, a foe of Israel in the Middle East that stands accused by the United States of supporting international terrorism, became only the second country after Belarus to voice public backing for Russia's operation in Georgia.

U.S. Sees Much to Fear in a Hostile Russia

N.Y.Times 22Aug;

Although Russia has long supplied arms to Syria, it has held back until now on providing the next generation of surface-to-surface missiles. But the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, made clear that he was hoping to capitalize on rising tensions between Moscow and the West when he rushed to the resort city of Sochi to meet with his Russian counterpart, Dmitri A. Medvedev.
The list of ways a more hostile Russia could cause problems for the United States extends far beyond Syria and the mountains of Georgia. In addition to escalated arms sales to other anti-American states like Iran and Venezuela, policy makers and specialists in Washington envision a freeze on counterterrorism and nuclear nonproliferation cooperation, manipulation of oil and natural gas supplies, pressure against United States military bases in Central Asia and the collapse of efforts to extend cold war-era arms control treaties.

TOP Tory Caroline Spelman—already under investigation for paying her nanny from public funds—was last night embroiled in a NEW £100,000 cash row.

News of the world . 24.08.2008

For the Conservative Party chairman used taxpayers’ cash to pay her top aide, DESPITE him undertaking party political work.
Mrs Spelman used parliamentary staffing allowances to pay her chief of staff Simon Cawte up to £47,500 annual salary for up to TWO years during her spell as the party’s Shadow Local Government Secretary.
But parliament’s rulebook specificially FORBIDS paying party political staff out of the public purse.
Parliamentary Standards Commissioner Sir John Lyon is already probing the “nannygate” allegations that former nanny Tina Haynes was paid £25,000 from Mrs Spelman’s staff allowance.

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Tory candidate slashed tyres, made silent phone calls and sent gay magazines to political rivals in two-year hate campaign

By Charlotte Gill D.M.Last updated at 9:32 PM on 05th August 2008

Campaign of harassment: Ian Oakley arrives at St Albans Magistrates Court to make his plea
A former Tory parliamentary candidate faces jail after admitting a two-year hate campaign against his Liberal Democrat rivals.
Ian Oakley, 31, slashed tyres, made false accusations of child abuse and sent poison pen letters.

Disgraced MP Derek Conway must pay back ?13,160 expenses he claimed for son's 'wages'

By Ryan KisielLast updated at 1:31 AM on 28th July 2008

Disgraced Conservative MP Derek Conway has been given a year to pay back expenses he claimed for family members.
House of Commons officials have ordered that ?13,160 must be paid back in 12 instalments from his wages.
Tory leader David Cameron sacked Mr Conway after it emerged he was claiming taxpayer's money for his two sons while they were at university.
The scandal, revealed in January that Henry and Freddie Conway were paid ?80,000 of public money for doing very little work.

The ?13,160 repayments are for wages given to Freddie after an inquiry found no evidence of any work done as a researcher for his father.
Pressure group Taxpayers' Alliance said Mr Conway should have been ordered to pay back the money immediately with interest.
Alliance spokesman Mark Wallace said: 'Why on earth is this man being given so long to pay back the money he wrongly took from taxpayers?
'If all this time his family has had the benefit of this money, there should be interest that, if gathered up, can be given back to us all.

'It's crazy that he's still being paid by the taxpayer.'
Mr Conway was stripped of the Tory party whip and suspended from the Commons after being condemned by a Parliamentary Standards Commissioner.
The report said Freddie had done nothing despite earning ?50,000 in public allowances.
The 22-year-old was employed on his father's staff while studying full time at Newcastle University.
The MP for Old Bexley and Sidcup announced that he would stand down at the next General Election.
But he still faces a second inquiry over ?32,000 paid to his elder son Henry.
His wife Collette was also paid through public funds, but she worked legitimately as his secretary.
The scandal prompted the Government to rush forward plans to add more independent scrutiny to parliamentary expenses.
But Labour MPs voted to allow members to still spend ?2,400 a year on furniture and household goods.
Their claims would then be scrutinised by the National Audit Office, the independent Whitehall spending watchdog.

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MPs banned from employing their children using taxpayers' money

By Daily Mail ReporterLast updated at 6:03 PM on 05th August 2008

MPs are to be banned from employing their children using taxpayers' money under Government proposals published today.
The move follows recent uproar over abuses of Parliamentary allowances and the publicly-funded jobs occupied by MPs' relatives.
A consultation paper issued today flagged up the Derek Conway scandal and said the employment of sons and daughters by MPs was damaging to the House of Commons.Mr Conway was stripped of the Tory whip and suspended from the Commons for 10 days after being found earlier this year to have overpaid his son Henry out of his staffing allowance

Derek Conway paid his son Henry more than £32,000 in allowances and bonuses
It emerged that as a 'parliamentary researcher', Henry had received more than £32,000 in allowances and bonuses while an undergraduate at Cambridge. Conway had also employed his other son Freddie.
The document warned: "Whilst spouses may have the skills, experience or qualifications to make them the most appropriate candidate for work in their partners' parliamentary or constituency office, this is less likely to apply to MPs' children whether under 18 or young adults.
"Furthermore, recent incidents involving the employment by MPs of their children, demonstrate clearly the negative impact this has on public confidence in members.
"The proposal is therefore that MPs' children should no longer be able to gain paid employment in their parent's constituency or parliamentary offices, or in any other role relating to the parent's work as an MP."

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Ken Livingstone's eight political aides get £1.5 million payoff

By Daniel Martin
Last updated at 7:00 PM on 04th August 2008

Eight of Ken Livingstone's 'cronies' are to receive £1.6 million in pay-offs following Labour's London election defeat, it emerged today. Eight of Ken Livingstone's 'cronies' are to receive £1.6 million in pay-offs following Labour's London election defeat, it emerged today.
Eight of Ken Livingstone's 'cronies' are to receive £1.6 million in pay-offs following Labour's London election defeat, it emerged today.

Those getting payoffs include John Ross, Mr Livingstone's economic advisor; Redmond O'Neill, his transport advisor; Simon Fletcher, his chief of staff; and Mark Watts, his climate change advisor.

All are current or former members of Trotskyite group Socialist Action.

Former advisor Lee Jasper, who was forced to resign following reports in the Evening Standard that he had channelled taxpayer cash to a woman to whom he sent sexually-charged emails, will receive no money.Last night a spokeswoman for Conservative mayor Boris Johnson said he was 'dismayed' to have been forced to make the payments but had been advised that there was no alternative.
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Arrest warrant issued for millionaire Lib Dem donor after he fails to show up at court on fraud charges

By Daniel MartinLast updated at 12:35 AM on 30th July 2008.D.M.

The Liberal Democrats' biggest ever donor has gone on the run just weeks before a multimillion-pound fraud trial. A judge issued an arrest warrant last night for Michael Brown, a businessman whose company gave the LibDems £2.4million in 2005.

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Glasgow spells the end of 300-year union

A new spirit of Scottish identity has emerged into which the Scottish National party has tapped.

Times. Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Glasgow East has done more than deliver a bloody nose to the most Scots of modern British prime ministers. It has accelerated a process that may soon rearrange the political and geographical components of the United Kingdom. This is not just for the best. It is for real.

Lovelorn Lembit: Give me back the ring Cheeky - and the House of Commons pass

By Antonia Hoyle and Katie Nicholl
Last updated at 10:18 PM on 26th July 2008 D.M.

Spurned MP Lembit Opik is desperate for Cheeky Girl Gabriela Irimia to hand back her engagement ring – and the pass he gave her to the House of Commons.Mr Opik, 43, is so anxious about the pass he has urged her twin, Monica, to send it by courier to his London flat.Liberal Democrat Mr Opik surprised many by giving Romanian Gabriela, 25, access to Parliament when his previous fiancee, TV weather girl Sian Lloyd, 50, was not even let in to use the ladies’ there.
Last week Gabriela, whose big hit with Monica was The Cheeky Song dedicated to Lembit “We love you and your bank balance” told a downmarket tabloid that she had a abortion. Seven days earlier, she had shocked Mr Opik by announcing that their fling, the tab being picked up by the taxpayer, was over. But no way were she and her mother returning to the squalor of Romania from where they originated…….. which, with her form, is quite unthinkable......

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Cameron left stranded as his bike is STOLEN as he shopped for salad

By Alex Millson Last updated at 11:17 AM on 24th July 2008 D.M.

Onlooker Gary Yankee said the theft had “perplexed” 41-year-old Cameron, who was heard repeatedly saying: "But I locked it.!!!"
Mr. Yankee said: "He must have been looking around for about five minutes as if he couldn't believe it had gone." Then he never was very “street wise” or bright, living in a padded atmosphere of bundled up, crisp , fifty pound notes. Surrounded by strange people who fawn and concede each word he utters, irrespective.

Brown's humiliation in Glasgow East: SNP demolishes Labour's 13,507 majority

By Ian Drury Last updated at 3:17 AM on 25th July 2008 D.M.

The Glasgow East by-election was triggered by the resignation of Labour MP David Marshall on health grounds, although there was speculation that he jumped ship after his taxpayer-funded Commons expenses had come under close scrutiny.
Victor John Mason described it as an epic win: 'Three weeks ago, the SNP predicted a political earthquake. This is off the Richter scale.
'The tremors will be felt all the way to Westminster.'
He added: 'Tonight we have removed the dead hand of Labour control.' Political correctness” and endemic corruption in the highest echelons.

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Taxpayer foots £700,000 bill for Blair's farewell
Joe Murphy, Political Editor Ev. St;22.07.08

Tony Blair's "farewell tour" before quitting office cost taxpayers more than £700,000, it was revealed today.
Figures show that the former Prime Minister's final lap of world capitals was probably the most expensive prime ministerial itinerary ever - despite him being only weeks from retirement.
Mr Blair made nine trips abroad in his last three months in office, costing a total of £724,000. The highlights were a tour of the United States, a trip to the G8 summit in Germany, a high-profile visit to Tripoli to meet President Gadaffi, and a trip to the Vatican to meet the Pope.. Blair’s ultimate intention being to become a Cardinal.
His globe-trotting was mocked by David Cameron as "like a pop star" and dubbed "the long kiss goodbye". The long kick goodbye ,actually, but Cameron does not have the guts to really rock the boat.
Travelling to Washington, with 18 Government officials in tow, cost £319,100, while the Libyan leg, complete with 30 officials, was even more expensive, coming in at £314,755.
Mr Blair also dashed to Paris, Warsaw and twice to Berlin to negotiate the Lisbon Treaty and also attended European Council summits. For trips to Brussels, he flew in an RAF jet rather than taking the Eurostar.

Is Soros taking his biggest gamble ever?

Keith Dovkants, Evening Standard18.07.08

The gathering storm over London's financial markets hardly needed a pessimistic intervention from George Soros. The billionaire speculator weighed into the gloom this week with a prophecy that Britain and the United States were heading for recession. It was, he said,

"the most serious financial crisis of our lifetime".

As his words reverberated around the news wires on Tuesday, the markets plunged. Wall Street watched helplessly as 200 points were wiped off the Dow after federal reserve chairman Ben Bernanke warned of trouble ahead in the US economy.
Worries over America's two biggest mortgage lenders and a run on a failing bank that mirrored Britain's Northern Rock crisis contributed to a sense that things were spinning out of control. In London, the FTSE 100 index fell 160 points amid scenes of near-panic. There was a minor recovery but banking shares hit their lowest level for a decade.

As all this unfolded, Soros's bleak assessment came like a thunderclap from the darkening clouds. Soros is the man credited, if that's the right word, with breaking the Bank of England. His judgments over more than 30 years of investment performance provide a template for making indecent amounts of money and he is admired and feared, probably in equal measure. When he says we are in trouble, people listen.

When he acts on his own advice, they pay very, very careful attention.

……………………..This is one of those times.

Tory MPs use expenses to fund Commons research unit

Paul Waugh, Deputy Political Correspondent17.07.08

David Cameron was facing a sleaze row today after Labour claimed he and other Tory MPs were abusing taxpayers' money to fund party activity. The Conservative leader moved to outflank Gordon Brown yesterday by forcing all but seven of his 193 MPs to publish details of their expenses. But his move seemed to backfire when it emerged that 78 Tory MPs were claiming Commons expenses to pay for the party's "Parliamentary Resources Unit".
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MPs to block rise for man who exposed perks

Nicholas Cecil, Chief Political Correspondent17.07.08

MPs are threatening to block a bumper pay rise for the Information Commissioner who forced open damning revelations about their expenses. They are due to vote next Monday on a £41,000 increase - more than 40 per cent - for Richard Thomas, taking his pay to £140,000 a year. But many Labour MPs are furious that allowing such a huge rise for a senior public figure will undermine the Government's stance on pay restraint for millions of public sector workers, including many on strike today after being offered an increase of just over two per cent

Bailed Tory candidate resigns

Brian Brady, Whitehall EditorSunday, 20 July 2008
The Tory candidate in a marginal seat resigned yesterday after he was bailed by police investigating allegations of harassment against political opponents.

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MPs ignore public anger and vote to keep getting furniture on the taxpayer

By Ian DruryLast updated at 1:40 AM on 17th July 2008 D.M.

MPs ignored public outrage last night by voting to continue buying TVs, fridges and other household goods using taxpayers' money. The John Lewis free for all ??

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Conservatives use £1.5m of taxpayers' money a year to pay relatives

By Daily Mail ReporterLast updated at 1:40 AM on 17th July 2008

New figures show 61 Conservatives employ members of their family out of their ………………………..£102,000 staffing perk.
Sixteen of them pay relatives as much as £40,000 to help run their parliamentary or constituency offices.
They include chief whip Patrick McLoughlin's wife Lynne, who earns up to £39,999 as a constituency secretary.
Frontbencher Laurence Robertson employs both his wife, Susan, from whom he has separated, and Anne Adams, the girlfriend whose affair with him was said to have led to the breakup.
The biggest mortgage interest claim was £9,600 from Eleanor Laing, MP for Epping Forest. The highest car mileage claim - £3,542 - was from Ian Liddell-Grainger (Bridgwater)
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Blair cancels Gaza visit after threats

Peter Walker and agencies
guardian.co.uk,
Tuesday July 15, 2008

Blair had been expected to meet traders and inspect a sewage project, which doubtlessly he would have found quite exhilarating.

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Cherie kept her official car and favourite driver 7 months after Blair quit

By Christopher LeakeLast updated at 3:17 AM on 20th July 2008

On call: Cherie Blair with the man believed to be her favourite driver 'Dave
'Cherie Blair used an official Government car and driver which was funded by the taxpayer for seven months after her husband left office.

“The working class can kiss my arse”

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Public trust!!!

London Tory MP gets £100,000 for 'second' home just nine miles from the Commons

Glen Owen and James Mills Last updated at 10:35 PM on 21st June 20

A leading Tory MP has claimed more than £100,000 in ‘second home allowances’ – despite representing a seat just 35 minutes’ drive from Westminster

Jacqui Lait, Shadow Planning Minister,represents Beckenham, Kent, just nine miles from Parliament. But by nominating a £1.5million Sussex farmhouse as her main home she has been able to claim up to £19,000 under MPs’ Additional Costs Allowance

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Wintertons claim thousands to pay for their burglar alarm because of risk from animal rights

Simon Walters
Last updated at 10:35 PM on 21st June 2008. Daily Mail.

Husband and wife Tory MPs Nicholas and Ann Wintertonfaced fresh controversy last night after it was revealed that they have received thousands of pounds of taxpayers’ money to run the burglar alarm at their luxury farmhouse home in Cheshire

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Tory chairman Spelman to face sleaze inquiry into nanny's pay

By Ian Drury
Last updated at 12:52 AM on 18th June 2008 Daily Mail.

Caroline Spelman : 'Exceptional' circumstances mean a full investigation should be carried out, says sleaze watchdog

The career of Tory chairman Caroline Spelman was in jeopardy yesterday after it was announced she would be investigated for paying her nanny using taxpayer-funded allowances Spelman secretary was first to raise concern over nanny

Friday, 27 June 2008
Concerns that the Conservative Party chairman, Caroline Spelman, was using her parliamentary expenses to pay her nanny were first raised by her own secretary, it was reported on BBC2's Newsnight last night. Sally Hammond – who became a part-time secretary to Ms Spelman in 1999 – was shocked to discover how she much paid Tina Hayes. Ms Hayes was employed by Ms Spelman after she became an MP in 1997, to look after her children and do secretarial work. However, according to Newsnight, Ms Hammond found that Ms Hayes performed little or no secretarial duties. Ms Hammond – wife of the Tory MP Stephen Hammond – reported the matter and the practice was stopped. Senior Tories are said to be calling for Ms Spelman's resignation

'Nannygate' Tory sacked secretary who shopped her

By Simon Walters and Brendan Carlin Daily Mail
Last updated at 10:31 PM on 28th June 2008
In the firing line: Caroline Spelman Tory chairman Caroline Spelman sacked the Commons secretary who 'shopped' her to party chiefs for using her parliamentary expenses to pay her nanny. And she also got rid of another Commons secretary who worked for her while she was paying the nanny from public funds.

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Mystery of Euan Blair's £550,000 bachelor flat - bought two weeks before he starts first job ever

By Dennis Rice Last updated at 11:19 PM on 14th June 2008 Daily Mail.

Tony Blair’s son, Euan, was at the centre of a mystery last night over the purchase of a £550,000 ‘bachelor pad’. If he is the buyer, it would take the value of the Blair family property portfolio to
£9million.
Last month, this newspaper revealed that Tony and Cherie had purchased the former country home of Sir John Gielgud in Buckinghamshire

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How No 10 aides shielded Blair from blame over cash for honours

By Jason Lewis Last updated at 11:50 PM on 14th June 2008 Daily Mail.

Former Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Loyal Downing Street officials ensured that Tony Blair could never be held legally responsible for the cash for honours scandal, newly released documents reveal.

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End of the John Lewis list: MPs to be banned from buying televisions and installing new kitchens on expenses

By Ian Drury Last updated at 3:15 PM on 25th June 2008… Daily Mail

Speaker Michael Martin (Leader of the pack) led the committee which has been considering how to restore public trust in MPs' expenses after a series of scandals

MPs will be banned from spending taxpayers' money on new kitchens, televisions, kettles!! or home improvements under a shake-up of their expenses. But they can still pocket nearly £19,600 a year tax-free from the public purse to cover the cost of running a second home near Parliament, a long-awaited report has recommended. And they would be handed £30 a day for subsistence each day - totaling £4,200 in a 140-day working year - without needing to produce receipts. The proposals were unveiled today by the Commons' Members Estimate Committee (MEC) which has carried out a root-and-branch review of MPs' perks The aim has been to restore public trust in politicians following a string of scandals involving misuse of expenses.!!!

Restore Public Trust !
It was also revealed that the publication on a full breakdown of MPs expenses this autumn as a result of a Freedom of Information ruling could cost the taxpayer around £1 million
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The have-yachts and have-nots

Britain richest man buys property on billionaire's row

By Richard Simpson Last updated at 12:06 AM on 24th June 2008.. Daily Mail

After buying an £117million mansion near his London home for his son Aditya, steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal has just splashed out a further £70million on a place thought to be for daughter Vanisha The combined value of the three properties, which are a few hundred yards apart in Kensington Palace Gardens, is said to be an astonishing £440million.

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The have-yachts and have-nots:
Labour has 'failed to stop widening gap between rich and poor'

By Becky Barrow
Last updated at 2:12 AM on 26th June 2008 Daily Mail.

David Beckham: Symbolizes the have-yachts culture. Labour has done nothing to reduce the gulf between rich and poor, it was revealed yesterday. In fact, the gap is widening again and is the same now as it was when Labour came to power in 1997, with the disposable income of the richest Britons six times greater than the poorest. On average, the poorest fifth of the population have 'original income' of £4,900 a year and the richest have about 15 times more money, with £72,890.

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Wendy Alexander failed to declare funding and is facing a “reprimand !!!” The career of Scottish Labour leader Wendy Alexander was in the balance today after an inquiry found she had broken the law by failing to declare donations to her leadership campaign. Miss Alexander, the sister of international development secretary Douglas, could be suspended from parliament later today when a committee of Scottish MPs meets to decide her penalty

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Labour's Scottish leader found “guilty” of not declaring election campaign donations

By Daniel Martin
Last updated at 7:31 PM on 25th June 2008 Daily Mail

Labour sleaze came back to haunt Gordon Brown today as the Prime Minister suffered a triple blow to his hopes of political survival. The Government faced the nightmare prospect of another by-election humiliation as it was rocked by three damaging new setbacks: The resignation of Scottish Labour Party leader Wendy Alexander, sister of Mr Brown's Cabinet ally Douglas Alexander, for failing to declare donations to her leadership campaign. The resignation of Glasgow. East Labour MP David Marshall – triggering the potentially embarrassing by-election – amid allegations that he wrongly used his Commons expenses to pay members of his family. Claims by a Labour politician that more than 100 MPs are using their Commons second-home allowance to dodge capital gains tax.

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Labour mired in sleaze claims as Scots leader quits and MPs are accused of homes tax-dodge

By Simon Walters and Glen Owen Last updated at 12:22 AM on 29th June 2008 Daily Mail.

The resignation of Glasgow East Labour MP David Marshall – triggering the potentially embarrassing by-election – amid allegations that he wrongly used his Commons expenses to pay members of his family.

'Over 100 MPs' in multi-million tax dodge over second homes

Does Wendy Alexander's fall spell end for the 'McMafia'?

Marshall in shock resignation after rumours over expenses

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Cost of Queen to taxpayer hits £40million (p.a.) as royal family is hit by the credit crunch.

By Daily Mail Reporter Last updated at 3:54 PM on 27th June 2008

She spent £22,849 hiring a helicopter to watch the Kentucky Derby during her state visit to America last year. The cost of transporting her entourage there is likely to raise eyebrows, however. Although it was classed as an official engagement, the tour was ostensibly organised to mark the 400th anniversary of the first permanent English settlement in the US in Virginia and to meet President Bush in Washington.The entire five-day trip cost more than £414,000, the single most expensive by any member of the Royal Family last year.

The cost to the tax-payer of the Royal Family's travel as a whole went up by £600,000 to £6.2million - close to an 11 per cent rise .Of that £4.8million was spent on chartering planes and helicopters as well as using the Royal Flight, up six per cent on last year.

Prince Andrew's foreign travel bill would certainly be more than most and insisted that his work was 'invaluable'. His most expensive trips were to the US in February where he spent more than £140,000 in flights and a staggering £250,000 in the Far East in March, despite traveling with a relatively minimal entourage.

As revealed last month, Charles and Camilla spent £210,000 hiring a luxury yacht for their official tour of the Caribbean in March and, we now know, spent a further £56,125 flying themselves and their entourage there and back. The cost of sending staff to 'recce' the visit was £19,927 - despite taking scheduled flights. An earlier trip to Uganda and Turkey saw the couple spending £316,061 hiring a private plane for themselves and their staff.

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Charles and Camilla's newly-renovated Welsh hideaway gets a visit by HRH, the hotel inspector

By Rebecca English Last updated at 10:32 PM on 23rd June 2008. Daily Mail

Charles bought the 100-year-old stone house, which comes complete with a 192-acre estate, for £1.2million two years ago. Nestling next to the Black Mountains, the house is actually owned by the Duchy of Cornwall, the estate which provides the prince with his £14million annual income The Duchy has spent tens of thousands of pound bringing the house up to date, including a “sympathetically-designed extension ??”

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MET and Orwell

'Sidelined' Police officer in race discrimation claim against Met chief Sir Ian Blair”

By Stephen Wright Last updated at 12:31 AM on 26th June 2008. Daily Mail

Outspoken: Assistant Commissioner Tarique Ghaffur Britain’s highest profile Muslim police officer is preparing to sue Met chief Sir Ian Blair for racial discrimination.

Assistant Commissioner Tarique Ghaffur will seek compensation at an employment tribunal amid claims that he has been 'sidelined'
Assistant Commissioner Tarique Ghaffur will seek compensation at an employment tribunal amid claims that he has been 'sidelined'

Police chief demands £500,000 compensation with race claim over promotion failure :

Stephen Wright Last updated at 11:43 PM on 27th June 2008 Daily Mail:

Commander Shabir Hussain, 45 'It is substantially more than £500,000. Muslim Mr. Hussain is claiming racial discrimination compensation.

Race war at the Met: We reveal what's REALLY going on at Scotland Yard

By Richard Pendlebury and Stephen Wright Last updated at 12:00 AM on 28th June 2008 Daily Mail.

Sir Ian Blair refuses to back down as Scotland Yard 'race war' escalates

By Stephen Wright Last updated at 3:30 AM on 30th June 2008

Sir Ian Blair looked to be on a collision course with Britain's most senior Muslim policeman yesterday as the stakes increased in the Scotland Yard 'race war'. Friends of Assistant Commissioner Tarique Ghaffur claimed that he has compiled a dossier of more than 30 allegations of discrimination at the top of Scotland Yard and the Home Office.
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More potently, in the English, tense, “politically correct” charged atmosphere , the word “black” has been erased from all dictionaries . There now being on the statute books severe penalties for any reference to this colour in any aspect. The result being all public conversations are circumspect. Greater significance now applies to the garish War Time posters…..

“The Walls have Ears” than ever imagined. This is a actual fact, they do.

Orwell, vindicated

Brussels and The Fat Cat Parliament

Brussels 2008.
A heavily fortified citadel of mystery, deceit, avarice, contempt of those unfortunates beyond the walls. Headquarters of the so called “European Union”. .The question could be poised. “A Union for what ??” or more precisely, “ for whom?”

Built on foundations of gold, the city besieged by discontent, greed, disenchantment and new countries eager to join ”in” for their own financial /political reasons, quite clearly seeing a great deal of loose money is to be made if they play their cards right. Turkey, with 70.000.000 Muslims , besides anything else, can see a much firmer foothold in the West for Islam if they could successfully negotiate entry. Should that day come, David Cameron (the shadow English Prime minister ) with other M.P’s of various extraction, will immediately convert to Islam to hedge their bets. Brown, is a Roman Catholic and the current incumbent of Number 10 downing Street. Blair, his predecessor, converted also to Catholicism for the Catholic vote, both men being Scottish

The Fatcat Parliament:

How MEPs pocket a staggering £630,000 a year each, Wife, mistress (s), tropical island trips, both town and rural houses, BMW’s, you name it, they do have it. Paid for by….

By Richard Pendlebury and Ian Drury
Last updated at 1:00 AM on 14th June 2008. Daily Mail

We shall identify them and their excuses later. But the most worrying aspect is how much of this rotten accounting still remains secret. There are few, if any, checks. And the figures are dizzyingly generous. Each MEP can pocket nearly £360,000 - yes, £360,000 - in pay and pensions annually and not have to account for a single penny. On top of their £61,820 salaries - the same as a Westminster MP - they get a daily £229 allowance to pay for hotels and meals (the equivalent of another £41,220 just for clocking on over 40 weeks). MEPs can also claim £700 for each trip back to the UK , whether they drive, go by train or take a low-cost flight. A further £3,194 a year can be claimed for traveling to other parts of the world, including luxury sunshine destinations, if the trips are classed as EU business. There is a £162,000-a-year allowance for secretarial services (sic) and an office allowance of £38,836 a year. This is paid automatically and MEPs do not have to provide a single receipt. Nice work if you can get it. But the no-questions-asked expenses bonanza hit trouble in January when it was revealed that the Westminster Tory MP Derek Conway had paid members of his family £374,401.73 in public money since 2001. On March 4, Gary Titley, the Labour leader in Brussels , stated piously in Section D (Further Information) of his submission: 'I wish to make it clear that I employ my wife as my secretary/PA.' The register also shows Mr. Titley to have the other perks of free tickets to a whole series of major sporting events. Others use different ways to finesse their previously withheld spousal employee relationships. Labour MEP for the North-East Stephen Hughes deploys a unique diversionary tactic on his March 31 submission by listing all the academic qualifications of his researcher wife Cynthia. For the record, the letters following her name are BA, LL.B (Hons), MA, MEd, MPhil.Tory MEP for London John Bowis admitted on May 5 to employing his wife, but argues in the register that she was 'formerly employed as constituency secretary for two other MPs, including a former Prime Minister'.( Ealing Common Kinnock and family, all, also on the Take) The implication being that she is pretty red-hot at the job. On May 27, Glenis Willmott, Labour MEP for East Midlands , declared in the register: 'I employ husband Edward as an integrated member of my staff team.' No doubt she took her husband/integrated member to watch the FA Cup final, as she received two free tickets. , Labour MEP for Yorkshire & The Humber, does not even want to use the word 'wife' in his first declaration that he employs her. On March 13, he submitted to the register that he has a part-time secretary 'related to me by marriage'. On the register, had made a written promise to issue a statement about his staff, but has yet to do so. However, the Tory MEP for the East Midlands admitted to us that his wife, Sara administered the £125,000 a year he spent from his staff allowances. For this, she is paid around £15,000 a year. One other adjustment that has been made this week to the register of interests is by the Scottish MEP John Purvis, who was the subject of critical headlines last week for a £1m 'conflict of interests'. The register shows that in April this year, Mr. Purvis declared he was a partner in Purvis & Co., which provided 'business services'. In December, he had described it as being dedicated to 'business advisory'. In the past week, we learned it received tens of thousands of pounds of his publicly funded allowances, supposedly to handle payments to his staff. This is against the rules. And so last Monday, a new declaration to the register of interests. Mr. Purvis still used Purvis & Co. as his 'service provider'. But now he was no longer listed as a partner in the firm. We asked him about it last night, in the interests of transparency. A spokeswoman for Mr. Purvis confirmed the MEP had withdrawn his name as a partner of Purvis & Co. She said: 'He has got rid of his interest. He has no connection with the company any more. 'Asked whether Purvis & Co. employed the MEP's relatives, she refused to comment. 'He has nothing further to say,' she replied .Long overdue rules changes will eventually close some loopholes exposed here. But what is the root of the prevailing cavalier attitude to accountability and the willful misuse of so much public money? One answer lies 300 miles south of Brussels , in Strasbourg . On the edge of an industrial estate on a ring road outside this Alsatian French town, across the Rhine from Germany , stands the glass and steel European Parliament building. Yes, another European Parliament building. Under the EU Constitution, every fourth week the whole 'circus' has to pack its bags and move from the Belgian capital to sit for four days in Strasbourg. Why? Because it is a symbol of the Franco-German detente. Imagine that our own Parliament was held in Bristol and Carlisle and that every fourth week the whole mechanism had to be transported between the two. When I visited on Tuesday, Strasbourg was absolutely dead. The two security guards on the gate of the Parliament did not speak English. The woman in the Parliament information office didn't, either. Officially, Strasbourg is the headquarters of the European Parliament, senior to Brussels , but it had the air of a national backwater, which is what it is really. The EU gravy train stops here. On Monday, the Strasbourg Express will pull out of Brussels for the journey to Alsace , carrying many of the 3,000 MEPs, staff and other bureaucrats. A fleet of lorries shifts the files. It is hired by the Parliament from the transport giant Thales for £160,000 per round trip. Naturally, it has 'lavish' catering facilities (the normal service has no buffet car) and is supposed to cut down on the Parliament's already bloated carbon footprint. It arrives at Strasbourg 's impressive station, which has been recently redesigned, with EU help, at a cost of £50 million. The hotels built solely because of the Parliament's occasional presence will fill up (they were almost empty this week) and then everyone will return to Brussels on Thursday. These jaunts cost the EU taxpayer £170million a year. Given such institutionalized waste, why should the MEPs cut their costs? Overspending is rife. Our Money is no object to them apparently. Hardly a “going concern” More of a bizarre circus /brothel.

Premiership footballers' Spanish holiday homes face demolition over corruption scandal

By Daily Mail Reporter Last updated at 5:59 PM on 27th June 2008

An exclusive Spanish development where up to a dozen British celebrities own properties could be bulldozed after being linked in a corruption scandal, it emerged today. The Valle Romano complex -where leading Premiership stars Paul Robinson, Michael Brown and David Bentley have homes - is being investigated as part of Operation Astapa. The scandal has so far seen the resignation of the Estepona mayor and 40 arrests, including the boss of Valle Romano Luis Linares

MEP pays gay lover £30,000 to be his secretary

“EastEnders” MEP pays gay lover £30,000 to be his secretary.

By Ian Drury Last updated at 12:53 AM on 10th June 2008 Daily Mail

Michael Cashman, the former EastEnders actor turned Labour MEP, pays his gay lover £30,000 of taxpayers' money to be his secretary. Paul Cottingham receives the cash even though he is also the director of a public company.
David Sumberg….. It also emerged that a Tory MEP who has made just just two speeches in four years, pays his wife up to £60,000 a year of taxpayers' money to be his 'secretary/assistant'. uses his parliamentary expenses to pay Carolyn an annual salary, which is almost as much as he earns himself. Since 2004, the North West MEP has spoken only 536 words in the Brussels chamber despite being allowed pay and perks worth about £1.1million - which works out at £2,052 a word. Despite representing the North West constituency, the former solicitor lives 200 miles away in a £2million house in London . In the past four years, he has made only two speeches - one on anti-Semitism and one during a debate which he claimed was biased against Israel - in the European Parliament. He has only tabled two questions. Liberal Democrat MEP Chris Davies - who blew the whistle on a multi-million pound expenses scandal in February - said: 'The people of the North West deserve better from their representatives. I doubt if anyone locally has ever heard of David Sumberg.' But Mr. Sumberg - who will stand down at the Euro elections next year - defended his wife's salary. He said: 'She is a fully qualified secretary with a masters degree in French and she has worked for me all the time I have been in politics since 1983. Beyond a little bit of help, she is doing the whole job and his pay is perfectly justified.' Asked whether his record represented-value for money, he said: 'Making speeches in the European Parliament do not achieve a great deal. ……… There are completely empty chambers with no one listening

the gravy train

Headache for Cameron as more Tories are caught on gravy train

By Ian Drury and Justin Stares
Last updated at 1:15 AM on 09th June 2008 : Daily Mail. The wheels were said to be falling off the Brussels gravy train as more details emerged of expenses claims by Tory Euro MPs.

• Sir Robert Atkins, the former minister who served under Margaret Thatcher and John Major, admitted using £2,500 of taxpayer cash while attending his son's wedding in the U.S. .

• Scotland 's John Purvis was accused of funneling up to £1million, which was meant to pay staff, into his own firm.

• North West MEP Sajjad Karim, who recently defected from the Liberal Democrats, admitted paying his wife £26,000 a year as an office assistant while she was a primary school teacher.

Some suggest that Cameron has calculated that his huge opinion poll lead over Labour, combined with the fact that voters are so desperately fed up with Gordon Brown's Government, mean that the Tories can get away with anything. If so, he is making a disastrous miscalculation. John Major was destroyed when naked greed spread through the ranks of his Government MPs in the 1990s (for example, the cash-for- questions controversy involving MPs Neil Hamilton and Tim Smith. Most worryingly, there are also signs that a sense of entitlement to the rewards of public office has spread into the ranks of the Conservative front bench, although it would be going too far to use the term 'sleaze'. For instance, last month, a powerfully researched report from the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner revealed details about the financial arrangements of the Shadow Cabinet - including the fact that a large number were taking money to run their private offices directly from commercial companies with vested interests in their portfolios. To give one example among many, housing spokesman Grant Schapps has received tens of thousands pounds from an assortment of companies, including mortgage brokers, an estate agent, a commercial property broker and solicitors specializing in conveyancing. The scope for conflict of interest is huge. One of the most intriguing cases involves Alan Duncan, the Shadow Trade and Energy Secretary. He receives significant sums of money from Vitol, a Netherlands-based oil company whose primary business is oil trading. The firm has a shady past and was once fined after owning up to bribing Saddam Hussein's government for Iraqi oil contracts. The company holds a 40 per cent stake in another oil group, Arawak Energy, which announced its intention to list on the Stock Exchange last week, and for whom Alan Duncan is a non- executive director. The real issue is whether a David Cameron government is capable of bringing back decency into British public life after ten sordid years of Tony Blair. At the moment, that looks very doubtful indeed….. Peter Osborne.

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more fat cats

Tory chief whip in European Parliament is replaced as ANOTHER sleaze scandal is revealed

By Ian Drury, Neil Sears and Nick Mcdermott Last updated at 1:27 AM on 07th June 2008 Daily Mail.

MEP Den Dover has been replaced as Tory chief whip A second Tory MEP was engulfed in an expenses row last night for paying £750,000 of public money to his wife and daughter. Den Dover channeled his Brussels staff allowance to a family firm he set up after joining the European Parliament in 1999

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How Blair built his property portfolio on mortgage expenses payments

By Richard Pendlebury Last updated at 8:04 AM on 06th June 2008 Daily Mail

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Date: Thursday, June 5, 2008, 9:35 PM By Geoff Meade, PA Europe Editor, in Brussels. Independent

Giles Chichester resigned as leader of the Conservative Euro MPs today after breaking European Parliament rules on political expenses

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Evening Standard, 28th of May 2008

Health Minister Ann Keen and husband Alan have been nicknamed “Mr. and Mrs. Expenses” They earned the title after using taxpayer’s money to buy a flat near Parliament – despite having a constituency home nine miles away.

The Labour MPs also claimed for £867.57-a-month premiums on life insurance policies worth £430,000

fat-cat MP's

Why we should sack half our fat-cat MPs - and save £180million a year

By David Craig Last updated at 9:55 PM on 28th June 2008. Daily Mail.

I believe that the No vote in Ireland's EU treaty referendum was a people's revolt, sending arrogant, slightly the other way, avaricious, disdainful, corrupt, contemptuous, out-of-touch leaders a message that their days are numbered.. The total cost to us of our MPs is now well over £366million a year. An MP costs taxpayers about £4,000 for each day he or she “works!”

Cheeky boy

Cheeky boy: MP Lembit Opik. with his “bit of the other” Gabriela Irimia.

Imported by him from Romania. …..What a C**T ! Needs work on her teeth, he will probably arrange that on the NHS also.

Yer pays yer money and takes yer choice .

Our money ..their choice.
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“Alo, alo, alo… Wot av we got ere then ?
Is it all over for Legover Lembit and the Cheeky Girl?

By Helen WeathersLast updated at 9:37 AM on 15th July 2008 Daily .Mail..
As Lembit Opik splits from his Cheeky Girl fiancée, her mother launches a blistering tirade, and claims the Lib-Dem MP was only in it for the fame!... (or the other “f” word ) and she was only in it for the money.
Holiday romance: Lembit Opik and Gabriela Irimia in the Canary Islands, this passionate fling, paid quite willingly/eagerly, by the English taxpayer, was, from the start, them being dubbed the 'odd couple', even though they very publicly insisted that their surprise love affair was, in his words, a 'meeting of minds' and, in hers, like 'a mushroom - it can only get bigger'. The large amounts of Viagra Mr Lembit imbibed could only enhance that position. Indeed, shrugging off criticism that the relationship was a 'joke', Liberal Democrat MP Lembit Opik (dubbed 'Legover Lembit') and his ‘bit of the other’ Cheeky Girl Gabriela Irimia couldn't have chosen a more showily romantic way to prove wrong all those doubters who said it would never last. Spread across the glossy magazine Hello! in April, the Montgomeryshire MP announced their engagement and revealed how he'd proposed to Gabriela with a Tiffany diamond ring beside the Trevi Fountain in Rome. They talked of their love for each other, with Lembit glowing in his praise of his 25-year-old Romanian fiancée who - despite being 18 years his junior and one half of the very hot-pants- singing and dancing act. The Cheeky Girl, who actually is a slag, but his 'intellectual equal'. He described how they played Scrabble and 'enjoyed great conversations about everything from science and philosophy to value structure.' He continued: 'One glorious evening, for instance, after considerable discussion about the English working class, their present plight, immigration, those depressing subjects, we embraced a higher level ….. the concept of a perfect circle, as a geometric challenge.. which of course, one would say, is simply a load of old bollocks, but with some girls, talk is the key”… he went on rather apologetically. 'Yesterday, however, the curse of Hello! appeared to have struck again. Just three months after their Roman holiday, their relationship appears to be as dead as the Latin language. They haven't been in contact for two weeks, so it's fair to say they aren't talking about anything at all, let alone geometric challenges. The young pop singer, who once dedicated a song to Lembit called “Text Me I Love Your Money,” is reportedly ignoring his increasingly frantic text messages as their relationship of almost two years falters.
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Cheeky girl Gabriela had secret miscarriage after falling pregnant with Lembit Opik's baby

By Alex Millson D.M.

Cheeky Girl Gabriela Irimia became pregnant with MP Lembit Opik's baby - then suffered a secret miscarriage, the singer has revealed. The 25-year-old also claimed she regretted ever getting engaged to Opik, who is 18 years her senior. And she has ruled out a reunion, saying "I still love him, but he's not for me. "Gabriela told how she fell pregnant in June, at first not realising that a daily recurring illness was in fact morning sickness.
Gabriela Irimia and Lembit Opik: The MP had no idea the Cheeky Girl had fallen pregnant - or that she had a abortion. It was not until she felt stabbing pains, the hard reality and took a test realizing she was several weeks pregnant, however, Gabriela told the News of the World that she took the decision not to tell her MP lover about her common predicament as their relationship had become increasingly volatile.
The odd couple: Lembit is 18 years older than Gabriela She said: "I'll never forget the day, it was June 21, the longest day, in many ways. I just wanted to run away. I felt like I'd let everybody down, including myself." At the end of June we weren't getting on very well. There were lots of arguments over nothing. "One reason was, I kept thinking 'If I am going to keep it, what's going to happen? Would I live with him? "I'd have to give up my “career” totally and to be honest I wasn't prepared for that right now."Gabriela claims her pathetic revelation in the newspaper would be the first Mr. Opik had heard about her carelessness .Recently the MP for Montgomeryshire in Wales revealed how he had wanted to settle down and have children, falling out at the end of June, when the couple had a huge row, they have not spoken. Gabriela said: " I realised how unhappy I'd been over the past few months and decided I needed a complete break from him ."There were a lot of text messages asking for a second chance but I wouldn't reply. "I do still love him but I thought, ”This guy is not for me”.

I would now prefer someone older, less demanding, more mature, with a heavier bank balance, my mother is most emphatic that I should really step up in society, she too having no desire, wish or inclination to return to the squalor we previously lived in Romania, I now having both feet and rather as great deal of leg on the ladder, so to speak.