Expenses Scandal David Laws comes out as gay

Cuts, cuts, credit crunch, banking disasters, deficit…

The new coalition has been in place for a few weeks now and the public voice of all of the above has been David Laws. Mr Austerity. Chief Secretary to the Treasury. David almost seemed to relish the prospect of wielding the axe. Well you know what they say: pride goes before a fall…

Surprise, surprise dear David has been fiddling his accommodation expenses.

Before probing any deeper, worth a little reflection on who David Laws is, his background and where his career is going.

David in many ways is a remarkable character. Double first in economics from Kings College, Cambridge.  Investment banker, Vice President at JP Morgan (aged 22 years). Then in charge of US Dollar and Sterling Treasuries at Barclays de Zoete Wedd.

David Laws was a millionaire by the age of 28. Remarkable!

Elected as MP for Yeovil in 2001 following Paddy Ashdown’s retiral David has been a significant figure among lib dems for some time. In terms of realpolitik he was a leading adviser on the Labour/lib dem coalition formed after the Scottish Parliamentary elections in 1999.

David’s background is archetypically tory, in fact it has been suggested that the only reason he did not join the party was their then opposition to section 28.

Time has moved on and events have taken a sudden twist. The Daily Telegraph has revealed that David Laws has been claiming rent expenses for a room in his ‘secret partner’s’ house. This went on from 2006 till 2009 and the sum involved is not unadjacent to £40,000.

Now, let’s not beat about the bush. The parliamentary rules are perfectly clear.

Since 2006, parliamentary rules have banned MPs from “leasing accommodation from…a partner.”

David Laws has fiddled his expenses and claimed £40k under false pretences. He admits he has had a relationship with his male partner since 2001 but “did not want to reveal his sexuality.”

Now, I’m getting old, I’m like many people in this country, I have old-fashioned attitudes. I am aware of the changes in society and have watched the change in the country regarding gender issues. LGBT folk may never view themselves as equal but in all practical terms the days of being ‘ashamed’ of being gay are long gone. Particularly for a Lib Dem legislator…

Mr Laws says he was trying to keep his private life private. ‘I fiddled £40k because I did not want to reveal my sexuality’. Nope, sorry Mr Laws it doesn’t work. Nobody cares who your partner is, least of all me but you can’t have it both ways. We don’t live in the fifties or sixties any more, are you saying there is something to be ashamed of in being gay? Surely not.

You didn’t need to claim this money. If you had not the question of your private life would not have raised any comment from anyone.

Sorry, this tawdry incident is just greed and naked self-interest I’m afraid. If the news of your relationship had not emerged I guess you would just have kept the money?

It’s a shame, being caught out fiddling the system is hardly a ‘personal tragedy’ as Paddy Ashdown has just put it on Sky News but it is a problem for the country.

We are facing hard times beyond the experience of anyone still alive in this country. We need clear-headed people who understand economics and the world of international finance.

If there ever was a case of ‘cometh the hour, cometh the man’ David Laws filled the bill but personal greed has put that at risk. This is not a gender or sexuality issue though David has chosen to dress it up as such. It is an issue of probity in public life and we have seen plenty of abuses around that theme in recent times.

It’s regrettable. The country needed David Laws’ undoubted skills in these straitened times but whether he can survive this crisis remains to be seen…