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David Laws - corrupt hypocrite?

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Comments

  • Shakethedisease
    Shakethedisease Posts: 7,006 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Photogenic
    So, he's gone. Can someone actually say what he has done wrong?? What he could have done differently??

    He claimed money under false pretences. For most of us, it's a serious offence for which, and certainly in the case of £40,000.. we could go to prison.

    What could he have done differently ?

    Well, since he's a multi-millionaire.. mabye buying a wee house of his own to live in might have been the best thing to do ? Perhaps then his partner could have moved in as a 'lodger' ? It would probably have been much simpler.
    It all seems so stupid it makes me want to give up.
    But why should I give up, when it all seems so stupid ?
  • JasonLVC
    JasonLVC Posts: 16,762 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture Combo Breaker
    So Laws has fallen onto his proverbial sword.

    Fair enough. How many MP's under Brown actually resigned - even the ones facing criminal charges were just 'suspended' or 'chose' not to stand for re-election, same goes for some of the Tories quibbling over their duck house expenses.

    It might be catastraophic for the new government this news item, but actually, isn't that the sort of action we've demanded as voters?. You do wrong, you go.

    So we're getting exactly what we've asked for, who cares if Laws may or may not have been technically right/wrong, it looked fishy, he had to go, he went.

    You can't stop corruption within politics but you can turf them out when they're caught.
    Anger ruins joy, it steals the goodness of my mind. Forces me to say terrible things. Overcoming anger brings peace of mind, a mind without regret. If I overcome anger, I will be delightful and loved by everyone.
  • Wookster
    Wookster Posts: 3,795 Forumite
    globalds wrote: »
    If he wanted privacy , maybe he should have chosen not to enter politics.

    If you insist on this then you will only get those who are so thick skinned they don't really care if their private lives are splashed over the papers (remember Blair/ Blears/ lord levy).

    I think this is a real tragedy and the loss of someone of real integrity at a time when the government really needs gifted people.
  • Lance
    Lance Posts: 559 Forumite
    After all the problems with expences clear rules were required and they should be obeyed and not broken because it suits the claimer. Renting off family and employing family caused a lot of problems and rules were set in place. He could have lived seperately or as a couple and obeyed the rules but he chose a third way. The main problem for me is how his claims dropped when reciepts were required! This is a multi-millionaire cutting the countries finances, rightly so, in a recession but his claims drop when reciepts are required. also strongly object to the bluster about the meaning of perfectly clear words in the rules that only MP's seem not to understand when claiming money. I had seperate bank accounts from my ex but sh was still my partner. We shared some social life but I was not trying to hide our relationship. They lived together and had a sexual relationship for 7 years with him stating he had no other relationships in that time and he has the cheek to say he didn't think it was a partnership...... what a load of crap. If a single parent moved a man in for 7 years and they slept together could she claim she had no partner for benefits purposes?
  • Spartacus_Mills
    Spartacus_Mills Posts: 5,545 Forumite
    tomterm8 wrote: »
    Well, because he is no worse than the other lying f*cking thiefs? And he is fairly competant. He is being replaced by someone who (according to you) is a lying f*cking thief but who isn't in my view all that competant.


    He is very able and very competent. He has certainly made an error of judgement but his excuse about the chap not being his partner on the face of it is plausible but it just does not stand up.

    However this is no worse than Mr and Mrs Balls with their flipping, Hazel Blears with her flipping, Alistair Darling with his flipping, Tony McNumpty with his domestic arrangements and Jaqui Smith renting a room from her sister. In fact all of these instances are far worse as they were all done with the intention of making a profit.

    Laws just wanted to protect his privacy and dod not want to reveal his sexuality.

    I hope and pray he comes back.
    "There's no such thing as Macra. Macra do not exist."
    "I could play all day in my Green Cathedral".
    "The Centuries that divide me shall be undone."
    "A dream? Really, Doctor. You'll be consulting the entrails of a sheep next. "
  • kabayiri
    kabayiri Posts: 22,740 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts
    We miss the other story here.

    The timing of this 'release of information' by the Telegraph is highly suspect.

    Could it be a response to their public dislike of the CGT issue? Surely not.

    We don't need newpapers dictating the economic agenda by selective timing of stories.
  • nickj_2
    nickj_2 Posts: 7,052 Forumite
    at least he had the decency to resign without waiting to be pushed
    considering mandleson was caught out twice cheating the system and yet hewas still welcomed back by broown
    the telegraph obviously have some agenda - they should now show all the scandal that they have rather than releasing it in dribs and drabs when they feel they can gain from it instead of dragging the expense scandal on and on - we are at a time when we need capable people to do a difficult job and a settled govt
  • Wookster
    Wookster Posts: 3,795 Forumite
    However this is no worse than Mr and Mrs Balls with their flipping, Hazel Blears with her flipping, Alistair Darling with his flipping, Tony McNumpty with his domestic arrangements and Jaqui Smith renting a room from her sister.

    As you say, the instances you have above are much much worse - they were done, simply to make profit, at the expense of the tax payer. Jacqui Smith's story is just not comparable - she's married, with children, how can her main residence possibly be a shared room??

    I think this whole thing with David Laws is a storm in a tea cup frankly.
  • PhylPho
    PhylPho Posts: 1,443 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts
    kabayiri wrote: »
    We miss the other story here.

    The timing of this 'release of information' by the Telegraph is highly suspect.

    Could it be a response to their public dislike of the CGT issue? Surely not.

    We don't need newpapers dictating the economic agenda by selective timing of stories.

    Er, actually, that's what newspapers are in the business of doing: seeking to mould public events in the interests of gaining circulation and reinforcing the existing prejudices of their readership.

    There's no secret agenda where the Telegraph is concerned though: it's merely consolidating its position in relation to its arch-enemy, The Times, a paper which was offered the original MPs' expenses story but, due to journalistic ineptitude of the worst kind, turned it down (and has been regretting it ever since.)

    As to the effectiveness or otherwise of newspaper stories in shaping public debate, the former can only be accomplished with the complicity of the latter: if a page one story runs, but no-one talks about it, then the story's dead.

    As here. Laws was in the wrong. Laws has gone.

    Ends.
  • Wheezy_2
    Wheezy_2 Posts: 1,879 Forumite
    However this is no worse than Mr and Mrs Balls with their flipping, Hazel Blears with her flipping, Alistair Darling with his flipping, Tony McNumpty with his domestic arrangements and Jaqui Smith renting a room from her sister. In fact all of these instances are far worse as they were all done with the intention of making a profit.

    Laws just wanted to protect his privacy and dod not want to reveal his sexuality.

    I hope and pray he comes back.

    Ahem...let's listen once more to what dear Nick told us in the 1st ministerial debate.
    There are MPs who flipped one property to the next, buying property, paid by you, the taxpayer, and then they would do the properties up, paid for by you, and pocket the difference in personal profit. They got away scot-free. There are MPs who avoided paying Capital Gains Tax. Of course, you remember, what was it, the duck houses and all the rest of it. But actually, it's the people, the MPs who made these big abuses, some of them profiting hundreds of thousands of pounds. I have to stress, not a single Liberal Democrat MP did either of those things, but they still haven't been dealt with.
    The point is not whether it's worse or not than what Labour did.
    The point is the man has no credibility nor integrity left and has to go.
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