Secret, Gay Lover expenses scandal forces David Laws to resign

This New Politics stuff is sure exciting… Rollicking action all the way! Dan Brown couldn’t write this stuff. David Laws since 2001 has had a partner, a secret, gay lover. Well, so what, sez you.

In this day and age man on man relationships are hardly news. It’s the expenses scandal whiff about it and who is involved that is causing all the public interest.

David Laws was of course the Chief Secretary to the Treasury. Now 18 days after the formation of our new government he has been forced out by the sleaze  factor.

He paid rent to his partner of 9 years for a bedroom in several properties. Payment of rent to a partner has been specifically barred by the House of Commons since 2006. Mr Laws stopped paying rent to said partner in 2009.

He said he was protecting his private life and ‘did not want to reveal his sexuality’. I’ve already commented on this elsewhere, but in similar cases the Investigations Department of the DWP only need to prove a pattern of ‘co-habitation’ to allow prosecution or withdrawal of housing benefits.

Mr Laws claim that ‘we were not partners’ looks pretty lame and would not stand up against investigations carried out on common folk by the state. If he manages to remain as a back-bench MP and escape prosecution he should count himself as a very lucky boy…

Moving on.

We are now 18 days into this new politics and the coalition between lib dems and tories. In many ways I think that the current arrangement is probably the least worst option.

We are entering an era of austerity with wide-ranging and painful cuts for all levels of society. I thought that having the leftish lib dems in the mix would moderate and curb the destructive instincts of an unrestrained tory government.

Then David Laws turned up…

Like lots of people I didn’t know much about David but since all of the goings-on of the last few days I now know much more and it ain’t attractive!

David comes from a City trading background, a millionaire in his own right at a young age and egregiously successful for one so young; he has turned out to be more thatcherite than anyone in the tory party. A true deficit hawk wielding the axe with relish. George Osborne looks quite Bambi-like in comparison.

I think this may be the only time I find any similarity between George and Tony Blair…

My fantasy about the restraining influence of the lib dems on future events looks just that; a fantasy. The lib dems in government look just as enthusiastic about slash and burn as the most right-wing tory.

Events have moved on. David Laws is history, Danny Alexander has been drafted in to replace him.  Another novice joins the ranks.

I don’t find any of this very reassuring. The lib dems in government are starting to look like a comic opera, their effect on the tories is draining away as we speak.

The good news is that a closet tory has been ousted. Sailing under false colours so to speak…

John Bercow says David Laws paid boyfriends mortgage??

David Laws claimed House of Commons expenses which he paid to his long-term partner for the room he was renting. That’s the big, breaking story of the moment.

Now, the Internet is a funny place. Nothing is as it seems but I came across an angle to this story which I could hardly believe.

John Bercow has just been re-elected as Commons Speaker against a lot of muttering and rebellion from the tories. I have just come across a Twitter account which purports to be that of the Commons speaker.

Here is an image of the Twitter page:

I have severe reservations as to whether this is John Bercow’s account… However if it is then the first statement is potentially explosive for our new Speaker!

This turns on the question of David Laws secret partner and whether they were really ‘partners’. If they were not: then David is in the clear. If they were; then he’s in the Doo-Doo.

There is a parallel in Modern Britain for this situation. There are many, many single people around, mainly single women claiming housing expenses from the state. The DHSS have a very long history of chasing these folk up, if it can be proved that a partner has unofficially ‘moved in’ then the authorities prove that by taking video material to produce in court so that the single female will be stripped of her housing benefit.

There is no need to prove that these folk are ‘partners’ or a ‘couple’, evidence of co-habitation is enough to lead to removal of benefits.

Maybe the Commons authorities need to start a similar scheme for MP’s (in the interests of fairness). There is an uncanny similarity between the two situations but I suppose there will be a ‘rule for the rich, and a rule for the poor’ coming into play here.

It’s the comments from John Bercow that intrigue me… The Commons speaker is supposed to be completely unbiased and not operating on a party political level at all but here we have John Bercow apparently finding David Laws fiddling the system to pay his boyfriend’s mortgage???

Health warning: This John Bercow could be a spoof  Twitter account but if it is not then the Commons Speaker has crossed a lot of boundaries with one ill-considered stride.

It is not beyond the bounds of possibility that John Bercow could be the highest profile casualty of the new media to date.  I cannot believe that it would be acceptable for the Speaker of the House of Commons to make a highly-charged comment of this type even on Twitter.

Would be a shame if this happened, David Laws and John Bercow, both sunk by a storm in a media teacup…. Well, I suppose that’s an apt analogy for many things in modern Britain.

Always remember this could be a spoof…..

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…