Diana Swanson | Rotherham Politics

Another snout in the trough?

It has been revealed today, that Rotherham’s Labour MP, Denis MacShane is being investigated by the Metropolitan Police for his less than open and now it would appear, less than honest approach to his parliamentary claims.

The complaint of 7th July 2009 was indeed submitted by a BNP activist, who is being referred to as the ‘Sleaze buster’, one Michael Barnbrook. The responses to his original complaint can now be viewed here on the website of the BNP Reform Group. Despite the source of the complaint, we should all be grateful that this sorry saga is now to be thoroughly investigated. There are further issues, that go to the heart of our democratic procedures, that will be the subject of a later posting.

In the report of the 12th October Meeting, published 14th October, 2010 of the, Committee on Standards and Privileges reads:

‘the Committee agreed that the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards should report to the Metropolitan Police Service the conduct of the Rt hon Member for Rotherham, Mr Denis MacShane’.

This blog, Peter Thirlwall’s Parliamentary Website and Rotherham Independents has featured many of the questionable purchases made on Parliamentary expenses and has openly criticised him for this. Now we feel totally vindicated and Peter Thirlwall’s attempt to raise many of these issues during the General Election campaign now fully justified.

We warned the voters of the Rotherham Constituency and Denis Himself, that MacShane would be eventually forced to answer the many justifiable questions his constituents have asked him but have gone unanswered. Now it has come to pass! We are willing to present our evidence of MacShane’s less than honest or justifiable expenses claims to the Metropolitan Police who we feel confident will be asking Denis many questions and they will. no doubt, get the answers we were denied.

This slippery, oily, arrogant and self-aggrandising politician looks set to follow ‘Honest’ Eric Illsley, Barnsley’s own disgraced MP, into Court to pay the price for his wrongdoing, along with Elliot Morley, Jim Devine and David Chaytor as well as Tories Lord Hanningfield and Lord Taylor.

Now suspended from the Parliamentary Labour Party and presumably the Labour Party, it is further evidence that Labour did a very poor job at vetting it’s candidates prior to the General Election and gives the lie to Gordon Brown’s claims to have done so, yet again Labour has let us down so badly! How many more greedy MPs will will come out of the ‘woodwork’ into the light one wonders?

Denis MacShane claimed £125,000 in office costs for this! It's Rotherham! NOT Central London!

Attached to his house in Rotherham just off Moorgate Road this is his rather expensive Constituency office in Rotherham.

No services are provided to this ‘office’ so without using his house attached his staff could not possibly work there! This may be a good time for Kath Sims, his secretary who works in this ‘office’, to look for a new job, I would have thought?

His brother, Edmund Matyjaszek, is also embroiled in this expenses controversy as Denis made a number of payments to a rather shadowy organisation called the European Policy Institute for ‘research and translation’. Headmaster Edmund, may come to regret this grubby little arrangement with his brother.

Many questions are still being asked about the eight laptops he bought from his parliamentary expenses, where are they now? Where have they been? Who has been using them? All unanswered.

These issues and the many other questionable expenses arrangements he has made over the years look set to bite him on the backside, big style!

We may now have a clue as to why he is so upset with IPSA and the new arrangements, making it more difficult to conceal any ‘Spanish’ practises from the authorities, perhaps?

In some parts of the Rotherham Constituency Labour Party there are quiet celebrations at Denis’s discomfiture and the sound of knives being sharpened ready for another attempt to rid themselves of this odious and disagreeable man, who they didn’t want in the first place. Power to their elbows I say!

There is also a small group of very embarrassed supporters who are ruing the day they signed his nomination papers only a few months ago. They should be suitably chastened, because their actions now look foolish indeed! I hope they are proud of themselves for the shame they helped to bring to our Town.

Roll Call of Dishonour, MacShane’s signatories to his nomination:

Anna Chester, Keith Brisland, Barry Kaye, Ian Barron, Julie Currie, John Foden, Ian Jones, Kath Sims, Richard Crow, Sarah Crow, Mahroof Hussain, Zlakha Ahmed, Tracey Jones, Nellie McHale, Christine Burgess, Quereshi Parveen, Diana Swanson, Roger Swanson, Dave Pickering, Subodh Kapoor, Jahangir Akhtar, James Burgess, Simon Currie, Rekha Kapoor, Stephen Parkin, John Price, Tom Henley, Craig Mitchell, Alan Buckley and Ruth Hobson.

In the Press:

Guardian Story 1, Story2.

Hemsworth & South Elmsall Express

Herald Scotland

Independent