03-30-2009, 11:02 AM
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#1
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Senior Member
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: -יְרוּשָׁלַיִם
Posts: 571
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Dirty Old Goat:
The Prime Minister has said Jacqui Smith is doing a "great" job as figures reveal she claimed £22,948 in taxpayer-funded allowances for her second home.
Ms Smith also faces questions about claims for a second home
To find out how much YOUR MP has claimed, click here
Gordon Brown praised the Home Secretary's work and said revelations she claimed expenses for adult movies "must not detract from the work that she is doing to keep us safe".
Speaking during a news conference with the Australian Prime Minister, Mr Brown said it was a "personal matter" for Ms Smith.
Ms Smith is currently under investigation by the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner for her decision to designate her sister's house in south London, where she stays, as her "main" home, allowing her to claim back the costs of running her family house in her Redditch constituency.
MPs are allowed to claim up to £23,083 for "staying away from [their] main home".
Conservative leader David Cameron said the affair was "deeply embarrassing" but did not call for her to resign her position.
Mr Cameron called on the Prime Minister to speed up the review of the whole system of MPs' pay and allowances announced last week, saying that there needed to be "complete transparency" in relation to claims by MPs.
But asked if she should resign, he said: "I do not think this individual thing is the issue.
"I think she has got some questions to answer about the second home issue. It does seem to me pretty incredible to claim that the home where her family is, that is not her main home.
"I think this goes to a deeper problem which is the second home allowance for MPs. The Prime Minister has ordered a review but he has sort of kicked it into the long grass.
"The review doesn't start until September, it is not going to report until after the next election. That is hopeless. We have got to get on with it ... have a quick review, right now, sort it out and come up with an answer.
The very least we should do is go into the next election absolutely knowing this sort of stuff is not going to go on into the next Parliament." Mr Cameron was speaking as Ms Smith faced questions about whether her career could survive the incident and whether her authority has been fatally undermined.
It was being stressed yesterday that she did not actually see the films, which were watched by her husband, Richard Timney, at their family home in Redditch, while she was away.
Mr Timney also apologised for the "embarrassment" he had caused to his wife while she promised to repay all the costs involved, including the £10 charge for the two films.
The disclosures come after Gordon Brown last week ordered the Committee on Standards in Public Life to launch a review of the whole system of MPs' pay and allowances.
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