Liberal Vision

Ros Scott replies…

The reply to the email I sent to Ros Scott earlier in the week is as follows:

The expense claims of all Liberal Democrat MPs and Peers have been checked out by teams from the Whips offices. The Leader of the Liberal Democrats in the Lords has given an assurance that all claims are within the Parliamentary rules for the House of Lords. Whilst you haven’t mentioned MPs, I can report that the Chief Whip in the Commons has reported that no Liberal Democrat MPs have been found to have phantom mortgages, manipulated their claims for council tax or capital gains purposes, or to have “flipped” the designation of their properties.

I am sure you will find this reassuring,

Ros Scott

Thus, the Whips have decided there is no wrongdoing by any LD Lords or MPs and they consider the matter closed.

I don’t find it reassuring as it happens especially considering other factors. And I’m inclined to agree with Agent Orange on this one (jesus lorraine, that’s a sentence I never thought I’d write…).

At the risk of sounding melodramatic this whole “it was all within the rules” spiel reminds me of the Nuremberg defence: “I’m just following orders,” they would say as they slammed the train doors shut!!

Has the party been honest about Chris Rennard’s departure?

The official line from Cowley Street could not be clearer. Chris Rennard’s resignation today has no connection to the allegations made against him in the News of the World.

He has resigned for personal and health reasons.

Having been subject to an awkward resignation from the party myself, I am very aware of the need to treat departing staff with dignity and decorum. I was very thankful to receive it in March 2007.

Chris has been an incredible servant of the party and this should be recognised.

But, British politics is presently in meltdown over the expenses claimed by Parliamentarians. I’m not wholly persuaded (to put it mildly) that the wider public will find the party line on this plausible. Any sense or sniff that we are telling anything other than the unvarnished truth will be seriously – and rightly – punished at the ballot box.

We still wait to hear what decisions the Federal Executive Committee took about the expenses issue. Given the FE meeting finished three days ago, I think we should be told. And I’m really struggling to understand why we haven’t been.

UPDATE: I’m on Question Time Extra on the BBC News Channel after tonight’s Question Time.

Federal Executive Committee told to “resolve” Rennard issue or “it will come back to haunt us”

Alix Mortimer, of LibDem Voice, has written to LibDem Federal Exec members, outlining LibDem activsits’ fury at the expenses outrage.

Referring to the Chris Rennard allegations in the News of the World, she says “This is not going to go away and if Chris [Rennard] doesn’t adequately explain this or say he will repay the money in the next few days, I will be coming up to stand outside Cowley Street with a placard.”

She finishes her letter saying:

“…it’s vital we address the News of the World’s allegations about Lord Rennard’s arrangements properly. It is simply not sufficient to say that his arrangements were “agreed by the Lords’ authorities” or similar – we could not sound more out of touch with the public mood if we tried. I cannot stress enough how no-one on the Clapham Omnibus is accepting the “it was within the rules” argument. I believe this case will come back to haunt us if we do not resolve it now. The full constitutional reform narrative being championed by the leader has the potential to be hugely exciting – it would be a great shame if it were undermined by further revelations. These could be largely prevented and/or defused by your firm actions this afternoon.”

This is a significant development, as Alix is a co-editor of the Cowley Street-backed LibDem Voice, this is a bit like a Sun leader writer calling for action to be taken about Rupert Murdoch. (This presumably explains why the letter hasn’t been published on LibDem Voice)

The Federal Exec has to resolve this matter tonight. Its meeting starts at 5.30pm.

UPDATE: Alix has asked me to clarify that the  first quote – relating to the placard – was included in her letter, but was actually quoting another LibDem activist. Alix has also posted her concerns on her own blog.  But the letter hasn’t been published anywhere yet, from what I can gather.

LibDem leader must grasp opportunity to become “clean up” Clegg

It is immediately clear why the Telegraph decided to run this story after revelations surrounding the other two parties (and ahead of any grand finale the paper may have planned). It doesn’t have a huge amount of punch.

Nick needs to be certain that any claim made by any Liberal Democrat MP was within both the spirit and letter of the law AND would withstand public scrutiny. Technical, minor errors should be repaid – and this process has begun.

But if -after a full assessment of the facts which have been brought to light – any LibDem Parliamentarian has breached this code, serious disciplinary action must follow.

But, it’s not just Liberal Democrats in the House of Commons. The reputation of the party rests on the behaviour of all our parliamentary representatives.

Largely overlooked as the wider “Fiddlegate” story was leading every news cycle, Sunday’s News of the World made assertions about Chris Rennard’s expenses claims as a member of the House of Lords.  The allegations should be relatively easy to investigate and rebut.

The issue hinges on the newspaper’s claim that Lord Rennard’s Eastbourne property is not his “main residence”. It needs to be shown that it is. In a clear, complete and unambiguous fashion.

Lord Rennard, of course, is not just a Lib Dem peer, he is the party’s chief executive -and so also accountable for his conduct as an employee. The Federal Executive next meets on 18th May. But Nick will surely have put this issue to bed by then.