Helen Duffett

Brian Coleman in “mad, bad and sad” expenses smokescreen

By | Tue 7th July 2009 - 5:56 pm

London Assembly Member Brian Coleman is refusing to publish details of his expenses, despite the Mayor, his advisors and the other 24 members of the Assembly agreeing to do so voluntarily.

Apparently a graduate of the Anthony Steen Charm School for Politicians, Coleman has blamed bloggers for being interested in how taxpayers’ money is spent:

“I won’t do it voluntarily. It’s none of the public’s business. They have coped well without knowing this kind of detail for more than 75 years. They are not entitled to drool over our personal lives. I’m not going to help the mad, bad and the sad, the bloggers on the internet. I’m not pandering to mob rule. It undermines democracy to suggest that all MPs, all politicians are the spawn of Beelzebub.

“Politicians with lower expenses tend to be the politicians who do least work. Those with higher expenses are the ones who do most work.” [London Evening Standard]

Hard to see how “the most work” extends to running up a £378 taxi bill, mostly as a result of asking a cab to wait from him with the meter running while he attended a banquet.

Even Mayor Boris Johnson is said to be “disappointed” at Coleman’s lack of transparency.

See Adam Bienkov’s analysis at Tory Troll on why Brian Coleman is an expensive liability for Boris.

Read more by or more about , , , or .
This entry was posted in London and News.
Advert

4 Comments

Post a Comment

Lib Dem Voice welcomes comments from everyone but we ask you to be polite, to be on topic and to be who you say you are. You can read our comments policy in full here. Please respect it and all readers of the site.

To have your photo next to your comment please signup your email address with Gravatar.

Your email is never published. Required fields are marked *

*
*
Please complete the name of this site, Liberal Democrat ...?

Advert

Recent Comments

  • FS People
    Expats If we are being “fair to the police” we need full facts: A neighbour called 999 saying someone had been stabbed, The brothers call contains signif...
  • Peter Martin
    @ Peter Davies, " you don’t really own anything unless you have the option to consume it" ??? I'm struggling to understand this. Am I missin...
  • expats
    David Raw 8th Jun '26 - 6:27pm..“After all George Formby paid 19/6d in the £ on his income and still remained the greatest entertainer ever”. David, the...
  • Peter Martin
    @ Kira, I asked Google's AI two questions: "is government spending higher per person in Scotland than England?" Ans: Public spending per pe...
  • Rif Winfield
    When the Liberals were at our most successful in the 1970s and 1980s, it was because we were then the insurgent party, taking on both Conservatives and Labour a...