Come on Stevenage, chuck Babs out

CF was wr... wr... wrong (hurts to say it) with this, yesterday - the Daily Telegraph wasn't switching targets (probably waiting for Sunday) and more troughing Labour MP's got exposed.

Most egregious of last night's Hall of Shame was Barbara Follett, The wife of author Ken Follett and "one of Parliament's richest MPs" (quoth the BBC).

Poor Babsy felt a bit nervous "after being mugged" -- that's fucking rich, after you've been mugging the taxpayer for years -- and demanded a security patrol. Paid for by us. The total bill for security patrols between 2004 and 2008 was £25,411.64. This is a woman whose husband admits to bunging her 100 grand a year "top up":

The Huntsman wrote about her a while back asking about all the lovely extra dosh from hubby:

"Mr. Follett .. chuckling .. like a pelican gorging itself on a school of fish [said] “I should be so lucky. Barbara in ten years as MP has never brought a penny home. She spends all of her allowances and all of her salary running her office and I actually subsidise it to the tune of every year at least a hundred thousand pounds a year”

In other words, Mr. Follett gives at least £100,000 per year, every year to his wife which effectively doubles the expenses she gets from the Taxpayer to run her office as an MP. By way of comparison, Mrs. Follett claimed some £109,000 as office expenses (out of a total expense claim for 2006/2007 of £133,300) as her Parliamentary Expenses.

Mrs. Follett has been an MP since winning Stevenage in May 1997, ten and a half years ago, so we are talking about something like £1,050,000 over time if he has been doing this throughout her time as Stevenage’s MP.

Huntsman's angle back then was concern about her total non-declaration of this money, but now we're in a different world. Why couldn't he pay for his wife's security blanket too? "Don't worry dear, I'll claim it on expenses".

The Sunday Times was writing about abuses of the expenses system in 2007 (2007? For fuck's sake) and said that she had

"claimed more than £120,000 in MPs’ allowances to pay for a London home, while owning a buy-to-let flat in the capital. Follett last year claimed £22,107 in expenses for a central London flat bought by her husband seven years ago. But it was confirmed last week that she owns another flat near the houses of parliament that she could have used instead. The MP also has the use of the family home in Hertfordshire, less than a 30-minute rail commute from London. The use of public funds to effectively subsidise an extra London home for the Folletts - who are together worth more than £15m - has prompted new calls for a review of the controversial housing allowance."

In 2007. A review, called for in 2007. Well, a fat lot of good that did. Long grass? Yup, long grass.

Dizzy thinks she's in trouble:

"I'm thinking that 3,139 majority in Stevenage is looking dicey this morning"

So, Stevenage, what are you waiting for? Your footie team were knocked out of the Blue Square play-offs (a goal in injury-time of extra-time - bad luck) so there's only one reason left to take to the streets.

Get out there. If you're a Labour supporter (still? really?) demand her deselection. If you're not, demand she resigns. Either way, call a by-election.

Bye-bye Babsy.