[Ignitionnet]

Originally Posted by Flyboy

The game of bingo was not for her own enjoyment, but for her to be able to get to know her constituencies a bit better. Rather than making several trips to London and back, paid for by the taxpayer, I would have thought that even you would applaud that. You seem to be getting a bit desperate in finding things to criticise the Labour MPs about. I would have thought that you would have led with Labour MP Suspended After Expenses Charge

Why would I do that? I posted the story purely because I came across it on Guido's blog. Nice try at making out I go out of my way to dig up dirt, and I am sorry to disappoint.

You'll excuse me if I don't regard going back to a group of constituents, already met during the campaign, to play bingo as being urgent business for a new MP. Interesting that you know better than her why she was doing it though, you must've asked her, given that she had already met them but didn't have time to play bingo with them it sounds like the bingo was a motivation given I'm sure there would have been ample opportunities to meet them not involving a bingo night.

“I had visited them during the campaign and I didn’t have time to come and have a game with them,” said the new MP.

She seems to quite enjoy her bingo too.

The Labour MP said bingo was a “great” way to spend a night and was not heard enough about.

Yes I would expect her to go backwards and forwards as her duties may require - that's her job. MPs receive allowances for a second home to make the commons more accesible for a reason, it's not for it to be a guest home when they aren't doing more pressing things like playing bingo.

Originally Posted by Flyboy

Or even the fourth homes scandal afforded to leading Conservative ministers. Now I know that they are traditionally allowed such favours, but when Cameron screamed about the excesses of governments, don't you think that it is a bit rich, now that they are in power?

Nice try but at least some of these grace and favours are owned by trusts and they cannot be sold off or used for any other purpose. They have to be maintained anyway so they are either used or they sit doing nothing.

It's actually good for the economy that these leading ministers take this 'scandalous' benefit - they pay income tax on it. This tax liability is why David Milliband didn't reside in his grace and favour, Carlton Gardens, and Jacqui Smith while Home Secretary didn't take up an official residence so that she could save income tax and, of course, describe her family home as her second home for expenses purposes.

Originally Posted by Flyboy

So you mean, when you said:

You really meant that they would vote for anybody in a rosette, did you?

*Awaits patiently for next excuse.*

Again - nice try but I commented specifically on Newcastle. What my pointing out the obvious fact that Newcastle would vote for a vomit covered turd if it were standing for Labour has to do with being tribal in any way is completely beyond me - I was talking to someone from Newcastle who wanted to vote Labour and couldn't explain why, a quick check showed it to be staunchly Labour with no real evidence of why the Labour candidates were so superior.

There are several areas that would vote a corpse as a Tory MP, in this case however I was discussing Newcastle, where they are Labour.

There is nothing tribal about being truthful I'm sorry to say. Ignoring that detail it's all about the context. It's that thing you love to take people's words out of to prove your point.