I was kindly introduced as “The main challenger in this constituency Sandy Walkington” – and the BBC is of course always right.

Most people don’t have an expense account, never have, never will.  Those relatively few that do are used to proper checking and monitoring as a matter of course.

I ran large teams at director level in both the public and private sectors,  I used to stress to my teams that every taxi journey, every fancy meal, every overnight was made on the back of some poor person up a telegraph pole or down a hole, driving a truck or sitting for hours at a cash desk. Having an expense account is a real privilege – in the public sector or in the private sector.

I also used to say to my staff that if I ever wanted to get rid of them, the first thing I would do would be to examine their expense claims.  I meant it.

We can now examine MP expense claims thank goodness.  This motion rightly demands that if they are found to have committed wrong, they should face the full rigour of the law.  But how can a law breaker be a law maker?  In any normal job, they’d be out on their ear.  Yet the only way to get rid of an MP is to wait for an election – one law for MPs, one for anyone else.  We have to have ways that a majority of voters – 51 percent – can recall their MP and force an immediate by-election.

No-one challenges that MPs from distant constituencies need a second home.  But it is different for outer London and commuter belt communities like St Albans.

For most of my working life I have commuted to London. I do not see that the Palace of Westminster is any more difficult to reach from Hertfordshire than the City, Victoria or Knightsbridge (all places to which I commuted on a daily basis). With the new more “family friendly” hours at Westminster, MPs often have shorter working hours than people who work in the City or have demanding managerial jobs.

Working in the private sector I would frequently come home after midnight – when I would simply charge my employers for taxis from the station to home! I might very occasionally claim for overnight hotel accommodation. That’s how people in the real world behave.

And I was quite clear and on the record long before this expense scandal broke that if I was elected as St Albans MP I would never dream of having a second home at taxpayer expense.  That just seemed blindingly obvious – as it clearly did to all the LibDem outer London MPs and to David Howarth in Cambridge too – thay are all “saints” on the Telegraph list and we should be really proud of that.  Some politicians can be different.

Others are all too predictable.  My Conservative opponent followed her Labour predecessor in having a second home – but she had it in St Albans so she could stay in her main home in Beaconsfield.

Various matters to do with her arrangements are currently being investigated by the Parliamentary Commissioner for standards – watch this space.

Her local party has tried to deselect her over the summer.  She refuses to see she has done anything wrong.  Beams and motes come to mind.  There will come a time of judgment at the ballot box.

But it’s not just the house at taxpayer’s expense, it’s the gravy train of the food allowance.  Mrs Main claimed £9,500 worth, three hundred pounds a month on average – at least until suddenly, miraculously the monthly claims stopped – that’s a crash diet if ever there was one.

You know, I know, normal people pay for their own meals at home and at least one at work unless they are travelling away from work on their business.

On the doorstep I have met so many people, often elderly and living in modest circumstances, who are simply enraged – it’s often more than they have to live on and yet it’s just supposed to be the extra cost of food from having a second home.

£9,500 worth of shopping trolleys – what an image.  Or try filling one with three hundred pounds worth of food, and then talk to shoppers at Sainsbury or Tesco about it.

It’s far more powerful than moat-cleaning or duck-houses.

It’s a picture of greed and filling of boots which will live with electors for a very long time.  The damage to politics is immense.  We are all caught up in the tsunami, innocent or guilty.

Greg Dyke yesterday described this as a Berlin Wall moment when a seemingly impregnable structure is shown to be rotten to the core and comes tumbling down

We cannot over-estimate the level of rage and disilluson among the public.
This motion is a necessary beginning but it is only the beginning and it will take years to put right.

Redaction is just a fancy word for censorship and we should say so. Looking at MP receipts on-line and seeing all those blacked-out details is genuinely shocking. This is public money being spent and apart from a very few exceptions I just don’t buy it that MPs’ security is being compromised by making their home addresses public.

I live at 6 Hobbs Hill in Welwyn. Previously I lived at various addresses in St Albans: 4 Dorcas Court, 42 Pageant Road, 4 Watling Street.

The newspapers tell me that Mrs Main’s taxpayer-funded second home in St Albans is at Samuel Square – coincidentally at the top end of Pageant Road only a few yards from where I was living when I last stood for election in St Albans.

I don’t think telling the unredacted truth about where we live is going to cause the sky to fall in.

I have issued the following statement to the local newspapers:

LIB DEM PARLIAMENTARY CANDIDATE PLEDGES NO SECOND HOME AT TAXPAYER EXPENSE

Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate for St Albans Sandy Walkington has given a categorical assurance that if elected he would never have a second home at taxpayer expense, even if it is allowed under the rules.

“I have always worked in London,” Sandy said. “I do not see that the Palace of Westminster is any more difficult to reach than the City of London, Victoria or Knightsbridge (all places to which I commuted on a daily basis). With the new “family friendly” hours, MPs often have shorter working hours than people who work in the City or have demanding managerial jobs.
“I would frequently come home after midnight – when I would simply charge my employers for taxis from the station to home! I might very occasionally claim for overnight hotel accommodation. That’s how people in the real world behave.

“The idea that I should claim extra money for food is even more bizarre. Normal people pay for their own meals at home and at work unless they are travelling away from the office on official business. Why should MPs be any different?

“Every day I am meeting people on the doorstep who are really struggling financially. They are outraged by what they are seeing on their televisions and reading in their newspapers.

“I am personally proud that of the seven Liberal Democrat MPs representing commuter belt constituencies, not one claims a second home allowance. Even David Howarth, LibDem MP for Cambridge, commutes daily on First Capital Connect alongside his constituents. They did not need the newspapers to tell them how to behave.

“I am frankly saddened that the reputation of Parliament has been besmirched by the antics of a greedy few.”

Both opinion polls and comment on the doorstep are showing the huge damage being done to the institutions of democracy by the whole ghastly story of misuse (and sometimes worse) of expenses by MPs.

Over the weekend I joined Lib Dem parliamentary candidates from around the UK in an open letter to the Speaker calling on him to address the issues without delay. He has to claim the moral high ground rather than continuing to defend the status quo.

Other Hertfordshire Lib Dem candidates to join me were Sal Brinton (Watford), Nigel Quinton (Hitchin & Harpenden) and Paul Zukowskyj (Welwyn Hatfield).

I continue to believe that politics is an honourable profession. MPs can make a real difference to the lives of their constituents. People have to have confidence in the wider democratic process. The longer this disaster takes to unfold, the more damage is being done to the British parliamentary democracy.
The full text of the letter is as follows:

Dear Mr Speaker,

As Parliament continues to be dragged down by the allowance system, and its rules, the role of those in public service across the country is being undermined.

We are Liberal Democrat candidates seeking to be elected to Parliament and yet we find ourselves disappointed, and frustrated, at the way in which this matter is being handled. Every day our residents are telling us loudly that this must stop and this must stop now.

Three things stand out:

• The resistance to the releasing of these documents and the attempt to exclude Parliament from the Freedom
of Information requirements

• The way in which Norman Baker and Kate Hoey were treated when they sought to raise legitimate concerns

• The fact that, through you, Parliament could now release the information into the public domain and cut short
this parade of drip-fed news and empower MPs and citizens through a new transparent relationship.

It is vital that Parliament must become transparent and accountable now. We call on you, as Speaker of the House, to do everything within your power to force the full publication of all expenses immediately. We also call on you to accept the independent review of MPs expenses and salaries chaired by Sir Christopher Kelly.

If you are unable to do this we then ask you to consider your position. Time is running out for politicians of all parties to repair the damage to our democracy.

Yours sincerely

Sandy Walkington, Liberal Democrat Candidate for St Albans
Nigel Quinton, Liberal Democrat Candidate for Hitchin & Harpenden
And 54 other Liberal Democrat candidates

Today was LibDem day in the Daily Telegraph revelations about the abuse of MP expenses. Do we emerge stain-free? No we do not. But overall the scale of inappropriate expenditure seems to be an order of magnitude less than in some of the other parties.

And I remain fiercely proud that none of the seven LibDem MPs who represent commuter constituencies has a second home at taxpayer expense – in marked contrast to all the Conservative and Labour MPs representing commuter constituencies in Hertfordshire.

But in absolute terms it does not matter whether it is a packet of hobnobs or a trouser press, or a moat or chandelier, any misuse of an expense account should be come down upon like a ton of bricks.

When I ran large teams at director level in both the public and private sectors, I used to say to my staff that if I wanted to get rid of them, I would immediately examine their expense claims. I also used to say that every taxi journey was made on the back of some poor bloke up a telegraph pole or down a hole. Having an expense account is a real privilege.

Personally I always rode tube and bus to get round London – almost invariably getting places faster than colleagues who did use taxis. I was hugely impressed at Transport for London by the way that everyone from Commissioner downwards used their own product. I remember once seeing Tim O’Toole, then Managing Director of London Underground, running late through the rain on the South Bank to catch the Bakerloo line to go to an official lunch at the American Ambassador’s residence in the middle of Regent’s Park – itself a long walk from the nearest tube station.

On a separate occasion when I was at BT, I took part in a bilateral meeting on telecoms issues in Berlin. Civil servants and industry representatives from both countries took part. On the aircraft that flew out of London, the civil service contingent all sat at taxpayer expense in business class at the front of the plane. The industry people including myself – all from different companies – all sat in economy at the back of the plane.

Some lessons to ponder there about economy and frugality – which is how all uses of taxpayer money must be approached, whether by Parliamentarians or any other public servants.

PS “This is the way the world ends. This is the way the world ends. This is the way the world ends. Not with a bang but a whimper” – T.S. Eliot – The Hollow Men

Ms Smith has been quick to apologise for the “oversight” and will refund the money. I imagine there will be a certain froideur in the Smith household for a period.

But even when claims are “within the rules”, our parliamentary representatives just don’t seem to get it that their claims offend against common sense and any normal view of right and proper expenditure. Claiming second home allowance in an outer London seat as Mr McNulty has done is clearly indefensible but the same should be true for any London commuter constituency.

I have always made it perfectly clear that if I am elected MP for St Albans, I will always pay for my own housing – period.

What right have I to be treated any differently from all the other London commuters in the city and district who have to travel back and forth with FCC and pay for their own homes?

A quick scan of the They Work For You website allows one to see what all MPs are claiming. Every Hertfordshire MP – nine Conservative and two Labour – claims Additional Costs Allowance for accommodation. None claims a larger sum (£22,110) than Anne Main. She has a “second home” in St Albans paid for by the taxpayer while she remains based in Beaconsfield.

By contrast the six Liberal Democrat MPs representing commuter constituencies within a 60-mile radius of Westminster do not claim a penny under this expense heading.

Not all politicians and not all political parties are the same.

People find it frankly incredible that MPs could put in claims of up to £250 per item and not have to produce a receipt.  From April 1, they have been shamed into reducing the figure to £25 per item.

But in all my jobs in the private and public sectors, I have always had to account for every claim down to the last penny.

It is dismaying that the Commons authorities are now taking legal
action to block publication of the detail of MPs’ expenses.  They are
doing this on the totally spurious grounds that there may be security
issues in publishing MPs addresses.

This may be the case for the
very small number of politicians with past involvement in Northern
Ireland and certain sensitive ministerial portfolios but it cannot
justify a blanket protection for all backbench MPs.

Frontbench
Conservative MP Grant Shapps from neighbouring Welwyn Hatfield, who has frequent
late night and early morning television and radio interviews, has his only
home in his constituency, commutes to London like everyone else and has claimed £3,244 on overnight hotel
expenses.  That seems quite reasonable.

The train journey from St Albans to London is shorter than from Welwyn Garden City.  Yet Anne Main claimed £22,100 in the same period for
her living expenses. Maybe that is perfectly justified but there
should be transparency so we can all see for ourselves.