We're all in this together

Good grief! when did this happen? What an absolute idiot you would think that given the Mitchael debacle etc. they would all be more careful wouldn't you?

Today – and there happened to be an ITV journalist in the same carriage. We are all in this together.

Well he has simply added more grist to those who see the Tories and out of touch toffs. Where are these people coming from?

Eugh he might have to sit near working class people, and catch something!!!

He would catch a slap from me! What an idiot

One rule for him and another for the rest of us... glad to see Andrew Mitchell finally did the right thing..

Not by choice though, I'll bet!

I thought all MPs and ministers got first class travel anyway.

I'm glad the ticket collector stood his ground though.

The former MP for Macclesfield was horrified when he was told to travel standard class or pay the extra for first class himself. He (and I paraphrase) didn't want to travel with the kind of people who used standard class (plebs, perhaps?). I can't help thinking quite a lot of them would have been thinking the same of him.

He can afford to pay.......he is far from poor.....has private income on a scale few of us will ever experience. What an arrogant twerp!

Yes, he is, and also reputed to have executed a scam on the home bought with a subsidised mortgage along with his also ex-MP wife.

Has anyone mentioned the latest expenses scam with house swapping and rent fiddles?

whitewave I did – Politics They're still at it – but no one else was interested so it's gone into limbo.

I see that the new chief whip is quite different from the old one - this ones an Earl so of course it will make all the difference. He was schooled at Eton and rides a bike. Well only a bit different! I do hope that "call me Dave" has given him a lesson in manners when riding about on his bike, or else he will be another 5 minute wonder. He is known for saying that the homeless are the bodies that you step over when leaving the theatre. Clearly a very charming chap, and so good of him to point this out.

Wonder when "call me Dave" is going to give up ALL of his correspondence between himself and the red frizz. One law for him .........

Our illustrious heir has also adopted the same tactic as his spider notes are being kept secret - well good for him I say what an excellent monarch we can look forward to.

How depressing this all is. No wonder Boris – or BoJo as he is now known – is the most popular politician in the country.

The problem there is if he became our next PM we would be landed with an English Berlisconi! Libido what Libido!!?? and all that brings with it.

Gordon Brown (apparently my MP but not seen for months) travelled from Fife to Edinburgh without a ticket some years ago (D3 was on her way to school at the time and saw it all happening ) and was caught at the barrier where he had to fork out, so it's not only 'out of touch toffs' who do it.

Ah! but the point is did he lower himself to travel with the common people in 2nd. or hitch into 1st class? We all may forget to pay (well sort of?!) but we don't do it to escape the riff raff do we?

Actually to be fair, most people on business expenses travel first on rail. Otherwise there wouldn't be a first class.
I remember 20+ years ago, when a humble training officer in a water company, being amazed to discovered that I was entitled to travel first. This was a legacy of public sector rules. Presumably for public sector "management grades" this was an entitlement.
In the rush hours, first class carriages are often full, but not with people paying out of their own pockets. They will, also, be working usually. If government ministers sat in second they would not be able to work on confidential papers without keeping them from the view of others. The question really is, were they polite to the ticket inspector?

Huh! When I was chairing a local council committee, I had to attend meetings in London. My predecessors had travelled first class, but we were on an economy drive when I succeeded to the chair and was booked in standard. Tough!

GO didn't speak to the ticket inspector - all done through his aide - who was sitting beside him - Poor GO appears to have been struck dumb - oh dear dumber and dumber as they say. Probably worried that he would have to u-turn on anything he said.

Confidentiality doesn't stand up - only if they book an entire carriage to themselves., and we know that someone was there to photograph the incident.

I'm not one to support a Tory, but on this occasion I might just a little bit. Apparently, MPs get expenses to travel second class but can't submit first class for reimbursement now. He and three or four in his group, who had already got their return second class tickets, got on a different train because of a diary change, so had no seat in second class, went to first with his aide, having separated from his security people, and awaited the inevitable inspector. The ITV person (who was in another carriage altogether) who tweeted about the situation may have seen an opportunity to take a rise out of him, and one tweet to Tony Morris, Granada TV news presenter, refers to this reporter 'prepping the inspector for a scrap.'

I don't defend what may have ensued in terms of alleged arguments, but I get the impression this has been blown out of proportion. I have got on many a London train and found someone in my, or a colleague's, second class seat because they missed their own train or didn't want to wait for their later train. The Picadilly to Euston rush hour trains are a nightmare. People with no seat rush to First class and sit there, hoping seats will become available before the inspector comes along. Most inspectors understand the situation and will give passengers an opportunity to move if a vacant seat has come available back in second class, so the 'arguing' referred to may have been no more than discussion about whether he could move or pay the upgrade.

It's a judgement call - do you get off the train and start all over again, hope to spot a vacant seat in due course, get a seat in first class and stand the difference yourself?

When - good points
My 3 DD's used to travel to school by train and very often sat in First because there were no other seats available and they were never charged extra. They were encouraged by the staff to sit there ( probably wanted to get the noisy school crowd out of the way of the other travellers!)
I must be a toff because if I travel to London from Scotland by train I go first-class because more often than not, it's cheaper if booked in advance. Maybe if I was seated next to Osborne and co I would have to down-class to get away

whitewave I think George Younger is a viscount, not an earl – that's not quite so posh. However, he's also a life peer so still in the House of Lords. I typed life beer by mistake, which I was tempted to leave as the Younger family made their money as brewers.