CAMERON BITES THE BULLET OVER MP EXPENSES FIASCO

After days of embarrassing revelations about greedy MPs manipulating their expenses, David Cameron showed real leadership qualities, and seized the initiative from the Prime Minister by ordering some senior Conservative MPs to repay expenses claimed for spurious items like garden improvements and housekeeping. Cameron is now campaigning for the whole system to be overhauled as soon as possible.

The Prime Minister Gordon Brown continued to dither, showing poor leadership skills, while Speaker Michael Martin behaved outrageously in the House of Commons by verbally attacking Kate Hoey, a brave Labour rebel MP who challenged him for calling in the police to 'find the mole' instead of criticising greedy Labour colleagues. In 2000 the Labour Party broke the convention of alternating the Speaker between the two main political parties when Betty Boothroyd retired, and Michael Martin became the 2nd consecutive Labour Speaker. Martin has exploited his expenses in the past,
eg by allowing his wife to lavish money on taxis for personal shopping and spending a fortune on refurbishing his accommodation in a grand manner at public expense. He was once a shop steward, and behaved like one in the House of Commons, supporting MP's misdemeanours and attacking the source of the leaks to the Daily Telegraph.

A clear example of Labour greed is one of the Luton MPs Margaret Moran, pictured above, who represents Luton South and lives in the same road as Kelvin Hopkins, the highly respected Luton North Labour MP. Kelvin has one home and commutes to London daily, while Margaret Moran has 4 homes in Luton, London, Southampton and Spain. She claimed £22k for dry rot work at her partner's home in Southampton. When challenged on why she needs a 2nd home 100 miles from Luton, she wittered about her need for family life and her partner working in Southampton. So why is he is on the Electoral Roll in Luton? Moran has now been shamed into offering to repay this money.

Hazel Blears has agreed to pay £13,000 to the taxman for Capital gains tax she should have paid before on selling her second property and the Corby MP is repaying £42,000! None of this would have happened but for the Daily Telegraph informant.

The general public now think that all MPs are corrupt and I know that Nadine Dorries and Alistair Burt have not indulged in these dishonest allowance claims. Alistair was on the TV tonight stating that he rents a small London flat, simply claiming an allowance to cover the cost of his rent and utilities, which seems quite fair.

As a local Councillor even I have come under fire while tramping round 1,000 houses canvassing, but we local Councillors receive very small allowances, and have to do all our own administration work - it is often a thankless 24/7 task dealing with issues raised by local residents. Yesterday I overdid it and strained a muscle, so I have had to stay at home today, catching up with paperwork. I still have to get round 1,250 more houses in the next 2 weeks - a thankless task indeed!

GRITTING BEDFORDSHIRE ROADS IN THE SNOW

SNOWBOUND LUTON TRAFFIC

Day 5 and yet more snow falls in Bedfordshire! Some Bedfordshire schools have closed for 3/4 days although Elstow Lower School was one of the few to stay open on both Monday and Tuesday. London came to a standstill on Monday when all the underground trains stopped and buses were cancelled because one bus was seen on CCTV to slip on the ice. Bedfordshire buses kept running on Monday because of the daily gritting of the extensive A and B road network by Bedfordshire County Council.

In spite of the snow I have driven on local roads every day this week. After 5 days of snow Bedfordshire's supply of salt and grit is down to 4 days' supply. On Wednesday the Government threatened to withdraw all the Cheshire Salt Union supplies from Local Authorities, so that the Highways Agency could use it for motorways. Fortunately Bedfordshire has more salt and grit due to arrive next week.

Bedford Borough Council is running out of grit for Bedford roads and the Mayor of Bedford has criticsed the County Council in his Blog for not sharing their fast diminishing grit supply. No doubt he will also criticise the County Council next week if they run out and fail to grit A and B roads. You are damned if you do and damned if you don't! Even if the County Council had any grit to spare, the Mayor can hardly expect a friendly response when he has continually criticised the County Council, long after Bedford Borough Council won the Unitary battle. Also even he cannot blame the County Council for the Borough's failure to order enough grit.

Luton is in such a mess with snowbound traffic that it has banned motorists from entering the town centre today. Also hundreds of flights have been cancelled at London Luton Airport and many parts of the country just ground to a halt. Therefore we should be grateful that Bedfordshire County Council was well prepared for the snow and has enabled many people to get to work and school this week.

LONDON LUTON AIRPORT VISIT

Today I enjoyed a very interesting tour of London Luton Airport with 3 fellow Conservative County Councillors at the kind invitation of Simon Earles, General Manager, Planning and Corporate Social Responsibility, who lives in Bedford

Bedfordshire's largest single employer, London Luton Airport has 8,000 staff and in 2007 had 10 million passengers, including 2 million business travellers. Luton Borough Council owns this Airport unlike the other 3 London Airports which are all BAA owned and receive considerable Government support. However London Luton Airport is highly successful and hardly ever loses any passenger baggage!

London Luton Airport generates a large income for Luton Borough Council, subsidising Council Taxes in a culturally diverse community with very high levels of social deprivation. The Airport has just produced a 5 year Community Engagement Strategy and is strongly committed to supporting the Bedfordshire community, supporting 20 local community projects like the annual Luton Carnival and providing exhbition space for Bedfordshire artists.

STOP PRESS ! BEDFORDSHIRE'S SEXIEST POLITICIAN

Many thanks to Wayne Blyth who thinks I am sexy and wishes I was his Councillor instead of his Labour councillors in Barnsley. Unfortunately Wayne and my other readers across the world cannot vote for me in local elections.

However you can vote for my Blog as one of the Top Ten UK Political Blogs before 15 August and as Bedfordshire's Sexiest Politician before 21 August. What are you waiting for?

Tomorrow I am off to PROMS AT TOMS, a function organised by Tom and Mollie Foster at their Clapham home to raise funds for St. John's Hospice, Moggerhanger near Bedford.

Have a great weekend.

BEDFORDSHIRE'S SEXIEST POLITICIAN

You will have realised by now that I am a serious minded politician but August is the silly season in the UK when many people are on holiday and journalists are desperate for stories. Andrew McConnell, a Conservative colleague writes a lively Blog called BLOGGING FOR BEDFORD and has launched a light hearted summer poll to find Bedfordshire's Sexiest Politician.

I have been shortlisted from 200+ politicians with 18 others but so far have only received a few votes. You can boost my morale by Googling BLOGGING FOR BEDFORD and vote for me before 21 August 2008 Andrew's website address is www.bloggingforbedford.co.uk.

There is still time to vote my Blog as one of the TOP TEN UK POLITICAL BLOGS - have a look at my 22 July Blog and vote before 15 August.

Tomorrow I am off on an official visit to London Luton Airport with 3 other Conservative County Councillors.