The Sunlight Centre for Open Politics welcomes the news that where possible the Iraq inquiry will be held in public.
The panel of the inquiry will consist of Sir John Chilcot, Sir Roderick Lyne, Sir Martin Gilbert, Sir Lawrence Freedman and Baroness Prashar.
The composition of the panel with Sir John Chilcot as the chairman a former [...]
Posted on July 30th, 2009 by chris
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Again via Agent Orange, who seems to be taking as minute an interest in expenses as we at Sunlight do, comments by Nick Harvey MP today appear to suggest that most MPs had a common sense understanding of what their "main home" and "second home" should be – and that this understanding differs significantly from Jacqui [...]
Posted on July 29th, 2009 by Juliet
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Esther Rantzen, TV presenter and founder of ChildLine, has said she is going to stand in Luton South, the constituency of Margaret Moran. Moran is retiring in disgrace after expensing a £22,500 dry rot treatment to some house she owns miles from her constituency. Via Reuters:
Rantzen said she believed voters felt just as strongly about [...]
Posted on July 28th, 2009 by Juliet
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Next THURSDAY, August 6th, we at the Sunlight Centre, and our pressure group, blogging, and press friends, will be toasting the phenomenal response to our fundraising efforts for the Jacqui Smith prosecution fund. We anticipate celebrating the £15,000 mark and we hope you’ll join us!
Sunlight Centre Donation Toast
Thursday, August 6th, 6pm
Westminster Arms (9 Storeys Gate)
Posted on July 28th, 2009 by Juliet
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Sky News has reported today that MPs are to keep their £25 subsistence per day without producing a reciept. The Sunlight Sunlight has looked at the new Parliamentary Green Book which states in section 2.1.3.2:
”A flat rate of £25 may be claimed for any night which a member spends away from his or her home [...]
Posted on July 28th, 2009 by chris
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Just when we thought the ’silly season’ was about to start in earnest the Times revealed over the weekend that Lord Bhatia 77 who was made a peer by Tony Blair in 2001 but sits on the neutral crossbenches could face a possible police probe following allegations surrounding his claims for his two bedroom apartment [...]
Posted on July 27th, 2009 by chris
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The Sunlight Centre has recieved a rapid response to our FOI request on Mr Speaker’s pay. John Bercow’s total pay is £141,647. His salary consists of £64,766 for his salary as an MP for Buckhingham and £79,754 for his salary for the office of speaker. Both these rates are agreed by the House of Commons after [...]
Posted on July 23rd, 2009 by chris
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There has not been much movement on the case of Lord Rennard since the Sunlight Centre reported him to the Committe for Privileges, but one might at least expect the Lib Dems to be doing something about allegations of serious corruption by its own former CEO. Nothing of the kind. This from Agent Orange:
Lib Dem [...]
Posted on July 22nd, 2009 by Juliet
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Gordon Brown’s face-saving measure to persuade the public that something has been done about the expenses scandal yesterday passed into law. The shoddy bill, which the Lords criticized as one "drawn up in secrecy" – and for which the government didn’t even consult John Lyon, the Commissioner for Standards – had most of its teeth [...]
Posted on July 22nd, 2009 by Juliet
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Chris Galley research director of the Sunlight Centre writes on The Red Rag with an update on the "Bringing Jacqui to Justice" campaign for a private prosecution of Jacqui Smith MP:
"We are very happy that the first day of fund raising collected something like 100 donations online and raised £7,000. We wait to see what [...]
Posted on July 20th, 2009 by chris
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