Chaytor, Devine, Morley and Hanningfield: The Filthy Four

Straight after the news of Woolas getting his comeuppance the Supreme Court have now ruled that The Filthy Four must stand trial. The down side is that it will cost you and me, the taxpayers, around £1m as for some inexplicable reason, they qualify for legal aid. Hanninfield has not claimed legal aid. Here's what they are accused of:

ELLIOT MORLEY



Accused of 'falsely claiming a furnishing allowance' after claiming more than £30,000 expenses for a mortgage he had already paid.

He claimed £16,000 at £800 a month in mortgage interest between March 2006 and November 2007.


A second charge alleges that between April 2004 and February 2006 Morley made a further false mortgage interest claim.

Again he is accused of claiming £800 a month, a total overpayment of £14,428.67.


JIM DEVINE



Accused of falsely claiming expenses in March 2009 after submitting two misleading invoices for printing services worth £5,505.


Also charged with dishonestly claiming allowances for repair, insurance or security between July 2008 and May 2009 by submitting false invoices for services, cleaning and maintenance of £3,240.

DAVID CHAYTOR



Accused of providing false information on an allowances form under the Theft Act 1968 after claiming £18,000 for rent he paid to himself.


He falsely claimed £12,925 in rent between September 2005 and August 2006 for a London flat when he was the owner of the premises.


Between August 2007 and January 2008 he also rented a cottage at taxpayers' expense at a rate of £775 a month from his mother Olive Trickett. He pocketed £5,425.


Also accused of filing two invoices for computer IT services worth £975 in 2006.


LORD HANNINGFIELD

Faces six charges relating to false travel expenses claims. He is alleged to have claimed Lords overnight allowances in London when he had actually returned to his Essex home.

The offences are alleged to have taken place between March 2006 and April 2009.

From the Mail Online.

And Another One Bites The Dust

Piggy Boy Morley bites on the political phial. I love the word 'phial'. Perhaps the more scientific reader may wish to confirm whether or not it is ever used in a context other than cyanide and suicide. Looks like a piggy doesn't he?

Bill's Cashing in too. Geddit?

Former environment minister Elliot Morley is expected to become the 13th MP to step down in the wake of expenses revelations.

Mr Morley, who claimed £16,000 over 18 months for a mortgage that did not exist, has already been suspended by the Labour Party.

Scotland Yard is also considering whether to launch a criminal probe.

The Scunthorpe MP said he is arranging a meeting with his local party association, but refused to confirm he will inform activists he is standing aside at the next general election.

"I will release a statement after I have spoken to them," he added.

Meanwhile, it has emerged that senior Tory MP Bill Cash claimed more than £15,000 of public money to pay the rent on his daughter's London flat.

The MP designated a west London flat owned by his daughter Laetitia as his "second home" for Commons allowances during 2004 and 2005 - even though he owned a home closer to Westminster.

Mr Cash, whose main home is a country house in Shropshire, said he did not live at his own Pimlico flat or rent it out at the time.

The Daily Telegraph reported that Miss Cash, who is hoping to become a Conservative MP, sold her flat for a £48,000 profit soon after her father stopped claiming money for it. She had owned her home for less than a year and a half, and for more than 12 months of that period her father had paid her £1,200 a month in rent from public funds.

Mr Cash, MP for Stone and a prominent Eurosceptic, then reportedly nominated two private members' clubs as his "second home" for three months.

Come on Blears you little runt, fill that phial! That's just me being gratuitous.