AADHIKARonline noting the evidence of the abuse of power by the Daily Mail's Richard Littlejohn who distorts the records to further his own ego

AADHIKARonline noting the evidence of the abuse of power by the Daily Mail's Richard Littlejohn who distorts the records to further his own ego


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1165743/RICHARD-LITTLEJOHN-Not-Augean-sleaze-Major-years-did-Home-Secretary-claiming-porn-expenses.html

Not even in the Augean sleaze of the Major years did we have a Home Secretary claiming porn on expenses
By RICHARD LITTLEJOHN
Last updated at 11:04 PM on 29th March 2009

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So now we know how Jacqui Smith's husband amuses himself while she's snuggled up in her sister's spare bedroom in South London.

Back at the family's 'second' home in her Redditch constituency, Richard Timney likes to relax in a gentleman's way in front of porno movies - which are then charged to the taxpayer as part of her parliamentary expenses.

When I christened the Home Secretary 'Jackboot Jacqui' I had no idea that her husband was into that kind of thing.


Clinging on: If Jacqui Smith loses her seat, it will have a lot to do with her husband's porn-viewing habits

This flagrant abuse has come to light after it was revealed that Smith claimed £67 for a cable television subscription - including access to the Playboy Channel, the Adult Channel and Television X, listed euphemistically as 'additional services' to spare the subscriber's blushes.

Purely in the interests of research, you understand, I visited the Television X website to check out the schedule.

In alphabetical order, it starts with 'Anal Boutique' and goes downhill from there. Suffice it to say, the line-up specialises in what we in the trade call 'acts too disgusting to be described in a family newspaper'.

Now, there is a charitable argument that any man married to a 'Blair Babe' should be entitled to pornography as a basis for negotiation. But whether the British taxpayer should have to pay for it is another matter altogether.

Jackboots says she knew nothing about the porn channels, which were wrapped up in her internet account. The BBC, quick to leap to her defence, assures us she has given her husband a 'good earbashing' (which I believe can be found under 'E' on the Television X website and costs £4.95 for the full half-hour).


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VIEW FULL ARCHIVE

She may not have known, but he certainly did. And Timney is not some na've house-husband, idling away the lonely nights while high-flying wifey is keeping the world safe from international terrorism.

Timney is a full-time politician, paid £40,000 out of the public purse to be Smith's adviser - in which capacity he has been known to write to their local paper singing her praises, while not actually mentioning that he's married to her.

He will have been well aware what 'services' were being claimed on her expenses - he filled them in. Maybe he genuinely believed that claiming for dirty movies was legitimate. After all, if Gordon Brown can claim for his Sky Sports and Sky Movies subscription, it's only a short stretch to the Playboy Channel.

In any event, Jacqui Smith signed the expenses claim. Even if it was an 'oversight' she put her name to it and she accepted the money. Are we to believe that the Home Secretary is so slapdash she signs anything shoved in front of her, without bothering to read it?

Actually, yes, seeing as half the time she appears to have no idea what is going on in her department.

In the scheme of things, a few quid for some filthy films is a mere bagatelle when viewed in the context of the £100,000 Smith fraudulently claims from the taxpayer by pretending that her sister's box room in Southwark is her 'main' home.

As I have pointed out since this scandal broke, the Home Secretary has a perfectly serviceable grace-and-favour house in Belgravia at her disposal. It's a short, chauffeur-driven hop from her department and, befitting the holder of one of the four great offices of state, is a great deal smarter than a scruffy terrace in South London, which from the outside looks one step up from a squat.


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But if she lived rent-free in Belgravia, she wouldn't be able to fiddle her expenses. Listing her sister's address as her 'main' residence means she has been able to lavish a small fortune on her real family home in Redditch, all courtesy of the mug taxpayer.

She's even claimed for the kitchen sink - a £550 stone job. You couldn't make it up.

The Home Secretary, above all, must realise that ignorance is no defence. Even if she didn't know what her husband was slipping through on her expenses, she should have done. It may not have been her fault, but it was her responsibility.

At this stage, it is customary to say that if she had a shred of decency she would resign. But if she had a shred of decency she would have resigned when it was revealed that she was lying about her 'main' home in order to claim £100,000 of public money to which she is not entitled.

Smith will probably cling on, for now. But when she's voted out by the people of Redditch it will be her husband's dirty movies which do for her, not the far greater 'second home' swindle, just as it was the income tax evasion not the murder which claimed Al Capone.

It won't be enough for her to protest that they're all at it, even though they are - as became increasingly apparent over the weekend.

While these latest home truths about the Home Secretary's expenses dominated the headlines, there were fresh revelations about the creative accounting methods of employment minister Tony McNulty and Left-wing MP Harry Cohen.

It now appears that, as I have maintained all along, McNulty has committed a criminal offence in claiming allowances for his parents' home in Harrow.

And it has been revealed that Cohen, MP for Ilford, Essex, claims his 'main' home is a single-bedroom cottage and seaside caravan 70 miles from his constituency.

Cohen has received a staggering £310,000 in 'second' home allowances since he was elected. But he remains quite brazen about it all, claiming that when he entered parliament, MPs were encouraged to fill their boots.

This is how it always ends, in a torrent of sleaze. With Labour mired in corruption and Gordon's mini-me Nigel Griffiths caught having sex in the Commons with a stockinged slapper, we can almost look back on the final days of Johnny Major as a golden age of probity and propriety.

Not even in the Augean squalor of Major's government did we have a Home Secretary claiming pornography on expenses.

The Smith-Timneys epitomise the kind of institutionally-corrupt, smug New Labour entitlement junkies who believe that the taxpayer should pick up the entire bill for their work, rest and play - even if that includes hard-core porn.

Richard Timney has been wheeled out for a ritual apology, but it's too late. We can only imagine Jackboots's reaction when she got the phone call informing her what the cat got up to when the mouse was away.

And you know what? Next time she claims that her sister's spare room is her 'main' home, she might just be telling the truth for once.


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