Let's Hope It's The First Of Many

My maternal Grandfather was a local councilor in both the East End and South-West Essex after the Second World War, Conservative party since you asked, and he always maintained that the type of person who became a councillor changed forever once they could claim expenses.

I can't imagine what he would have thought about David Chaytor. Not only did Chaytor lie, fiddle and then make false accounting statements but he also tried to use his power and privilege as a Member of Parliament to cover his tracks or divert attention away from what he had done. He was guilty of trying the most public, "Look a plane," moment that would make most Dad's wince as they tried to relieve their offspring of a bag of sweets.

Chaytor wasn't clever he was stupid and like all criminals he only felt guilt and remorse after being caught. There seems to have been quite a debate on various messageboards about the length of sentence he got being either too lenient or too long, in my experience it's neither. The leader of a gang of VAT Fraudsters got 15 years for his part in a £54 million scheme and as I have pointed out on this blog before a woman who worked for a client of ours received twelve months for stealing over £100,000 from her employers. Chaytor got 18 months for false accounting a total of £18,350 so in monetary terms it was probably correct, however I think that as he was an MP should have made the sentence twice that as an example to others.

Chaytor was a greedy and stupid man, his attempted acts of deception would have embarrassed Fagin. Claiming for flat rental which he actually owned showed his contempt for the electorate of this country, claiming rent for his Mother's home when she was in fact in a care home due to Alzheimer's shows callousness beyond forgiveness. The submitting of an invoice for IT services when in fact no such transaction had taken place was the ultimate insult to intelligence.

Several other politicians face trials over their expense claims. They are Scunthorpe Labour MP Elliot Morley, Jim Devine, the former Labour MP for Livingston, Eric Illsley, who represented Barnsley Central for Labour, Tory peer Lord Hanningfield and former Tory peer Lord Taylor of Warwick.