Maria Miller

I hold no brief for Maria Miller, but those who are hounding her are the Tory press and even some of her fellow Tory parliamentarians and grandees like Lord Tebbit. Nobody denies that others made false claims and some did go to gaol for it, including a Labour MP who used to be my head of dept at college. David Laws held up his hands and resigned though he has since been rewarded by being appointed as a sidekick to Michael Gove.

Not quite sure what sort of reward that is, Anno. More like a poisoned chalice.

It isn't really an apology when it's preceded by "I have been told to apologise", and is accompanied by an expression that looked like barely concealed irritation.

Having said that, I don't think an apology, sincere or otherwise, sufficiently addresses her deliberately evasive and obstructive behaviour.

www.politics.co.uk/blogs/2014/04/07/bercow-s-big-test-confronting-the-miller-judgement
Hopefully Mann will not let it go at this.

POGS

^I'm sorry but if it is the case that other MP's from Labour, Conservative and Lib Dems have done the same, and they have, why don't they also have a petition to make them resign.

I am not condoning Maria Miller, as I posted before, I just can't understand how there is a group loss of memory when it comes to other MP's and parties when it suits^ .

I agree completely. In the real world, it would be classed as gross misconduct leading to instant dismissal and this is what should have happened to every single one of them - still, it would be naieve to expect one cow to lead another to slaughter.

Other MPs have gone to prison.

Exactly, Eloethan. A bit of selective memory loss there. There was a list of MPs who had been sent to prison on our local radio this morning. All Labour MPs. The only tories sent to prison were in the other place, two of them.

durham, I should have put " " round 'rewarded' which was meant ironically.

It's Prime Minister's Question time on Wednesday, Ed Miliband will be having a field day with Maria Miller, let's hope she is sacked or resigns soon she is a disgrace.

www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/apr/08/maria-miller-row-mps-standards-legal-fears
This has just appeared on the Guardian website at lunchtime.
MPs have always made a big play of the fact that there are lay members on the committee, but they do not have a vote, and there are only three of them. What's the point, if not to whitewash?

Jackie Smith springs to mind. How on earth did she get away with it?

Yes indeed, and wasn't she a...Labour MP? Seems she's done alright for herself anyway - chair of University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Trust, no less! Let's hope she can now afford to pay for her husband's porn channel viewing.

Labour, tory, libdems, whatever, they (nearly) all have their snouts in the trough filled with our money.

Yes, we are all in it together, we keep filling the trough and they keep gobbling it up.

Jackie Smith was voted out by her constituents. I would imagine Maria Miller will be in a year's time if she does not leave of her own accord.
I think Jackie Smith is a lawyer, so would be a good person to head a hospital trust. It's all getting far too complex these days, and they need lawyers to make sure they do not get sold off to the private sector.

She's resigned. The only way she was going to avoid this was by repaying the whole £40k.
Interesting that neither she nor Cameron saw this from their entitled ivory tower. More lack of judgement on Cameron's part. The man who appointed Coulson.

About time.

Yes! Just heard the good news. What is more worrying is that she thought she could get away with it which shows a lack of political nous. The public protests as well as those from her own party have made a difference.

John Humphreys is chewing it over with Michael Gove right now.

Yes, she's resigned but David Cameron has apparently said he "hopes she can make a return in the future".

I think I am more concerned about David Cameron's support of her than I am about her deceit, arrogance and fraud. Shocking lack of judgement. And, I dont want her bleating on about being a working mother, we all are, but we dont steal from our employers.

But she's kept her loot.

Quite, Stansgran, who else could get away with all that profit?

I would resign if I could walk away with all that dosh!

I really have no sympathy at all - we need to weed out the rotten apples and aim for people with true integrity in positions of responsibility.

I wonder whether she'll turn down the £17,000 she's entitled to after resigning?

As I have posted on the other thread re MP's expenses, I will ask the question on here.

What about the 'flipping of homes' that the likes of Ed Balls and Yvette Cooper, Alistair Darling and co. did. They gained thousands to purchase properties, the same as Maria Miller in accordance with the Allowance System. Should they not have all been asked to resign at the time, which ever party they belonged to?

Balls, Cooper, Miller, Darling etc.were using the Allowance System accordingly but they were knowingly feathering their nests. What a pity John Mann didn't ask for resignations at the time of the scandal in 2009.

I am not standing up for Maria Miller but I hate the hypocrisy of all this. It has been sickening to see the hypocrites who shafted the tax payer and got away with it calling for her to be hung out to dry. Yes it is selective memory loss when the finger is only pointed at one person and one party. I'll give em their due, they are a thick skinned bunch of shallowness.

Cooper feathered her own nest at the same time as enforcing the Pathfinder project to demolish people's homes.

hypocrital double standards comes to mind.