Speaker of the House

clipped from www.timesonline.co.uk Michael Martin: the speaker cornered One of the oddities of parliament’s opaque procedures is that a Freedom of Information request will show that on February 19 this year, Speaker Martin gave tea to the Polish ambassador and claimed back £3.77 on expenses. Yet there is still no requirement for him to reveal which members of his own family he employs on the public purse, and at what salary. Ann Keen, Labour MP for Brentford and Isleworth, ran his campaign for Speaker eight years ago and remains a close ally in the Commons. She and her husband, the fellow Labour MP Alan Keen, earned the joint tabloid sobriquet “Mr and Mrs Expenses” after it became known that each was claiming £17,669 in housing allowances for the mortgage on an apartment on the south bank of the Thames, even though they live only nine miles from Westminster.

A must read. If you have a friend who is dogmatically Nu Lieber, give them a copy of the Times report. Then just sit back and listen to them whine, prattle and lie.