Troughers to elect new Speaker

Monday sees the day when the troughers will start the election process for their new speaker. In a scenario reminiscent of George Orwell's Animal Farm, the pigs will choose a new Napoleon to intimidate the other animals and consolidate his power.

Napoleon uses Squealer, the pig who spreads Napoleon's propaganda, to explore the ways in which those in power often use rhetoric and language to twist the truth and gain and maintain social and political control.

Napolean promises in his address to the animals:

"Animal Farm, Animal Farm,
Never through me shalt thou come to harm!"

Now if there was one thing that the animals were completely certain of, it was that they did not want Martin back. When it was put to them in this light, they had no more to say. The importance of keeping the pigs in good health was all too obvious. So it was agreed without further argument that the milk and the windfall apples (and also the main crop of apples when they ripened) should be reserved for the pigs alone.

The vote was taken at once, and it was agreed by an overwhelming majority that rats were also comrades. There were only four dissentients, the three dogs and the cat, who was afterwards discovered to have voted for all the candidates.

"ALL ANIMALS ARE EQUAL
BUT SOME ANIMALS ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS."

Nothing changes, eh.

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• George Orwell: from Animal Farm to Zog an AZ of Orwell (telegraph.co.uk)

Wholly, exclusively and necessarily

The long awaited MPs' expenses claims forms are published on the Parliament website today, albeit in a redacted format. It seems that a lot of MPs had moments of temporary blindness when completing their claims and failed to read, or understand, what they were signing.

On the ACA2 Additional Costs Allowance Member's Claim Form there is a warning statement at the beginning of the form -

You can only claim for

• costs you have actually paid


• additional expenses wholly, exclusively and necessarily incurred to enable you to stay away from your main home for the purpose of performing your Parliamentary duties.

Similarly, at the end of the form where the MP signs off the claim, there is an additional warning statement.

For the purposes of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 the House of Commons Administration is a Public Authority and therefore the information it holds will fall within the scope of that Act.

The only reason we know anything about all those claims for light bulbs and moat cleaning is that campaigning journalist Heather Brooke has spent the last five years fighting tooth and nail for MPs to come clean about their expenses.

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• Your right to know (Heather Brooke's blog)
• Unsung hero (guardian.co.uk)
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Magna Carta

Today is the 794th anniversary of the signing of Magna Carta, a document sealed by King John of England on June 15, 1215, in which he made a series of promises to his subjects that he would govern England and deal with his vassals according to the customs of feudal law. Magna Carta remains a major document in the history of individual liberty, but only clauses 39 and 40 of Magna Carta remain valid law in England. Nonetheless, Magna Carta remains a major document in the history of individual liberty.


The two most important clauses of Magna Carta are among the legal clauses.

This clause establishes that the king would follow legal procedure before he punished someone. In Clause 39, the King promises:

“No free man shall be taken or imprisoned or disseised or outlawed or exiled or in any way destroyed, nor will we go or send against him, except by the lawful judgment of his peers or by the law of the land.”

This clause establishes the principle of equal access to the courts for all citizens without exorbitant fees. Clause 40 promises:

“To no one will we sell, to no one will we deny or delay right or justice.”

Brown to propose electoral reform

We learn that Gordon Brown is to unveil an alternative vote system to choose MPs to replace the first past the post method, but says there would have to be a referendum before any change could be made to the voting system.

Referendum? The country was promised a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, but that never happened. Call me cynical, but Westminster Goblin finds it increasingly more difficult to believe any promises this man makes on referenda will ever come to fruition. The general election will be held at the lastest by June 2010 and this will ensure that the major parties do not have to implement any referendum on electoral reform.

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• PM to unveil voting reform plan (news.bbc.co.uk)

Esther Rantzen - a political life

At a time when a number of MPs who have passed the state retirement age have taken the decision to stand down at the next general election, we learn from a news report in the Daily Telegraph that Esther Rantzen (68) is thinking about embarking on a new career in politics. In the spirit of clearing out the rubbish from our rotten Parliament, our Esther has confirmed that she would stand for election in Luton if the current MP Margaret Moran stood again.

Miss Rantzen said: "I am absolutely shocked by an opaque process where nobody, nobody in Westminster, nobody in Luton South knows what's happening with Margaret Moran and I think that's a symptom of what is wrong with our current attitude. I think certainly the people in Luton South deserve to know, knowing how she claims her allowances, what the Labour Party intends to do. So I can't tell you at this moment whether or not she will be deselected, but if she stands, I will stand."

Westminster Goblin suspects that Margaret Moran (54) can see the writing is on the wall and will reconsider her position and elect to take her early retirement from Westminster. That's life, Margaret!

Anthony Steen MP

Anthony Steen claimed £87,000 from the taxpayer as part of his parliamentary expenses on a country mansion with 500 trees offers this grovelling apology.

Steen: "I have done nothing criminal. That's the most awful thing. And do you know what this is about? Jealousy. I've got a very, very large house. Some people say it looks like Balmoral, it's the photographs. It looks like Balmoral. It's a Merchants house of the nineteenth century, it's not particularly attractive, it just does me nicely. It's got room to plant a few trees".

Of course, he blames it on the Labour Government.

Steen: "This was no fault on my part. We have a wretched Government here which has completely mucked up the system and caused the resignation of me and many others, because it was this Government that introduced the Freedom of Information Act and it is this Government that insisted on the things which caught me on the wrong foot. "What right does the public have to interfere with my private life? None!"

He has announced he will step down at the next election.

Steen: The pressure came from the constituents. I took soundings and they were absolutely beside themselves with anger.

He later apologised "unreservedly" for the comments.

Steen: "I apologise unreservedly for some of the comments that I made in the interview on the World at One, recorded last night. I was so deeply upset with the situation which resulted in me overreacting. I am sorry that in the heat of the moment I said inappropriate things that weren’t as measured as I would have liked about the Freedom of Information Act, which I entirely support. I may also have given a misleading impression of the agreement I reached with David Cameron in our conversation yesterday. I will have nothing further to say about this matter."

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• MPs' expenses: Anthony Steen to stand down as MP at next election (telegraph.co.uk)
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• Tory MP says it was OK to bill taxpayer for his 500 tree forest, critics are "jealous" of his private forest (boingboing.net)

The evil of temptation

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MPs' expenses have been regarded by honourable members as a luxury 'perk of the job' in addition to their generous salary and pension benefits. The electorate have learnt the behaviour of MPs regarding the expenses scandal exposed in the Daily Telegraph is akin to a group of children being left alone in a candy shop.

When children are left unsupervised under such circumstances, they can have the habit of overindulging on the confectionary. They'll feel sick afterwards and become remorseful of their over eating. What is the lesson to be learnt from this outrageous display of financial greed from our MPs? - Don’t put temptation in the way of children by leaving the lid off the candy jar.