Them and Us

The Guardian reports on the case of Andrew Gibson, 49, a budget officer in the Parliamentary Fees Office.  He has been jailed for nine months after fraudulently claiming nearly £6,000 in fake MPs' expenses claims.  The offences came to light during the inquiry into MPs' expenses.  He can have no complaints about his conviction or sentence.

It is worth spending just a minute reminding ourselves of what was happening in the Fees Office.  Day after day, week after week, Mr Gibson was processing claims for everything from luxury goods costing thousands of pounds (£8,000 flat screen televisions) to trivial claims (Kit Kats, Jaffa cakes and scotch eggs) and the truly bizarre (moat cleaning, floating duck houses and mole removal).  He knew that MPs were on the fiddle, but that was no excuse for him to join in.

Some will wonder if Mr Gibson was given the opportunity to repay the money and walk away with no further consequences, as so many of our MPs seem to have been allowed to do.  Others may wonder when the long arm of the law will catch up with the MPs as it has with Mr Gibson.

One ordinary Joe soap was caught up in the expenses scandal, he defrauded the public purse of £6,000 and he is behind bars, as he should be.  Over two hundred MPs were caught up in the expenses scandal, together they defrauded the public purse of more than £2,000,000 and most of them were let off scott free, some of them are still MPs today.  For many it will seem like one rule for them another rule for us.

Unfortunately it is now old news; consequently nothing will happen.
Best Wishes
Will