Galloway caught up in expenses scandal!

[faceless]

George Galloway: Christmas cards claim on MPs' expenses was rejected
the controversial left-wing MP thrown out of the Labour Party, tried to charge the taxpayer for the cost of Christmas cards sent from his constituency office.
By Patrick Sawer
31 May 2009
telegraph.co.uk

The Respect MP for the east London constituency of Bethnal Green and Bow – where many of his constituents are Muslim – submitted a claim for £32 on his Incidental Expenses Provision for the festive greetings cards. However, the claim was rejected by the Parliamentary fees office, who informed the MP it was against the rules. In a letter to Mr Galloway a member of the fees office stated: "The Department of Resources disallows costs relating to Christmas cards as they do not fall within the remit of this allowance." On Saturday night, Mr Galloway said the claim was a "simple error" by a new member of staff.

As an MP for an inner-London constituency Mr Galloway is not eligible to claim a second home allowance. He did however receive a £1,978 supplement for MPs from the capital last year. The previous year he received the maximum £2,712 London allowance.

An analysis carried out earlier this year by The Sunday Telegraph found that Mr Galloway, who was expelled from the Labour Party in 2003 for accusing Tony Blair and President George Bush of acting "like wolves" in Iraq, represents the least value for money for his constituents of any MP. The analysis was based on a breakdown of how much each of the UK's 646 MPs claimed in expenses compared to their work in Parliament, with Ulster MPs and Ministers excluded from the list.

Mr Galloway turned up for just five per cent of votes, spoke in only four debates and submitted just three questions to Ministers. Despite this he claimed a total of £136,390 in expenses last year, including office and staffing. Once his attendance, voting and speaking record was taken into account Mr Galloway ranked bottom in terms of value for money. However, he rejected claims that he is one of the least hard-working MPs, contrasting himself with "backbench poodles with pagers who pipe up for any policy in order to keep in with their party whips and advance their careers".

Last year Mr Galloway was also paid £10,000 from the public purse in order to reimburse his friend and political assistant Ron McKay for setting up and running his constituency website and designing constituency leaflets. Mr McKay had originally submitted a bill for £11,815, but this was reduced by the fees office as some of the items claimed for did not fall under the remit of the Communications Allowance. Mr Galloway, who has appeared as a house mate in Channel 4's Celebrity Big Brother, also claimed £17,721 in office costs under his Incidental Expenses Provision and £94,000 in staffing allowance last year.

Before his victory in Bethnal Green and Bow in the 2005 general election, Mr Galloway represented the Labour stronghold of Glasgow Kelvin. This entitled him to a second home allowance, which in 2004/05 he claimed in full. That year he submitted an Additional Costs Allowance claim for £22,637, including £12,000 for rent on his Glasgow flat, £3,500 for food, £3,837 for telephone and communications and £1,700 for cleaning and maintenance. This was reduced by the fees office to £20,902, the maximum allowed under the rules.

Mr Galloway last night staunchly defended his record as an MP, describing himself as "one of the 'best-value'". He pointed out that his constituency office is one of the busiest in the country, handling thousands of complex personal cases a year, and that he partly subsidises the employment of five members of staff out of fees received for his media work.

He said: "I have written literally thousands of letters over the last four years on behalf of constituents and followed up their cases. I am in the House of Commons almost every day, including Saturdays, Sundays and holidays. It is pointless to vote in most votes when the votes themselves are a foregone conclusion. Moreover, Parliamentary questions are used by many MPs for grandstanding."

Mr Galloway said: "I believe that the Telegraph group's revelations on MPs expenses have been, in the main, legitimate, but I believe I am both a prominent MP and one of the 'best value' for both my constituents and beyond, and not the MP you seek to portray."

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So they've basically got little or nothing on him. Although knowing that his website and a few flyers cost over 11 grand is quite amazing. I charge £25 ph for web design and I really can't see any possible way that it would take 400+ hours to make such a basic website.

[luke]

11 grand?! i've been well undercharging if thats the case! i need me some clients like galloway

[Mandy]

[faceless]

Do you know of any other website than georgegalloway.com though? Perhaps it's the Respect party site that it refers to, but I can't see that being legible for reimbursment.

Whatever it is, a website and a few leaflets shouldn't cost anywhere near £11000. If it does then he's being ripped off and I'd be happy to offer my services doing something that would make a far greater impact for half the price. I'd even be able to hire in a few coders and make it something truly unique.

[major.tom]

Perhaps my memory is faulty, but didn't GG once say to a caller on his show that he files no expenses and pays for his entire staff and office out of his own earnings?

One shouldn't expect him to file no claims (and I don't) so I was surprised when he made this statement. But since he volunteered this information, which appears to be less than honest, doesn't it reflect poorly on his character?

Broad statements are great at winning arguments, but only if they're true.

[Mandy]

From recollection, George repeatedly said that he does claim for his staff, but not enough to cover all their expenses, so he supplements it himself personally.

I think he also said he doesn't claim any personal expenses (e.g. he doesn't ask for 2nd mortgages, cushion covers etc.) which is vindicated. As for the 2004/2005 claims, that seems ancient history when he was a Glasgow MP under Labour, as opposed to him being a London MP in the present parliament.

Indeed, on last Saturday's show, approx 23 min from end, George said on air that non-London MPs should claim travel expenses and also about him renting a flat when he was a Glasgow MP.

[Mandy]

Luke/Faceless,

Why not email gallowayG@parliament.uk and offer your services or make any proposal for a revamp ? I am sure a concern is the on-running maintenance cost and associated complexity, e.g. if using a CMS system, the cost of solving, debugging and maintaining the site would be huge {even a "free" CMS has frequent updates, including security updates .. which would make £11K pale into insignificance). Then there is the attacks (whether virus or DOS) which GG's site is exposed to. Then there is the bandwidth needs of streaming huge volume of data.

Also, is there any comparison with what other London based companies out there (let alone other MPs) spent on web sites and design services ?

[seshme]

[Mandy]

Thanks seshme. So the table shows that in the last 2 years, 455 / 610 MPs IN TOTAL have claimed more than George (out of the total of 646 MPs).

So please, before anyone says George has been wasteful of tax payers money, they should see how he has cost the tax payers less than most MPs.

Compared to other MPs (who cruise or holiday with tycoons), George does NOT have an expensive lifestyle (indeed, he almost works 24 x 7 x 365 -- so when does he have time to have an expensive lifestyle). As for "alimony payments", that is sheer speculation .. some of the wives of MPs probably spend much more than any alimony payable.

[faceless]

I don't think he's been wasteful - I think he's been ripped off.

[luke]

sshhh - tell him he got a bit of a bargain and we can charge a similar price

[seshme]

[modern]

Over £250k, for some people, would be cause for profligacy - but I'm quite sure for GG, he just likes to take care of people. He's altruistic don't yer know!

[major.tom]