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Pressure mounts on expense controversy MP

7:00am Thursday 11th March 2010 in


POLICE have launched a formal investigation into the expense claims of Leyton and Wanstead MP Harry Cohen, according to reports.

The MP, who is stepping down after 28 years in Parliament at the next general election, has been forced for relinquish his £65,000 resettlement grant after claiming a second home allowance on his home in Wanstead despite that fact that he spent most of his time there while renting out his other home in Colchester.

Police are believed to have asked the Parliamentary authorities for records of Mr Cohen's expense claims, but are not thought to have spoken to the MP himself so far.

Three MPs, along with Essex County Council leader Lord Hanningfield, will be the first expense claimants to see their cases reach court when they appear for a preliminary hearing at Westminster Magistrates Court tomorrow.

Comments(21)

Touchwood says...
11:50pm Wed 10 Mar 10

About time!

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Marcus Retief says...
12:59am Thu 11 Mar 10

The hand of justice merges fom the Canteen Cadets

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Investigations says...
4:49am Thu 11 Mar 10

It must have taken considerable personal courage for the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police to have authorised the investigation into the personal conduct of members of parliament who judging from their usual behaviour will not be slow in jumping on any trivial mistake that his officers may make in their inquiries! I do not think we would have seen similar action by his predecessor! All voters should search the internet for details of MP's expenses and then decide if these are the type of people they wish to send back to Westminster!

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Techno2 says...
8:36am Thu 11 Mar 10

'Reports are coming in...'

'Police are believed...'

This story is still quite tentative, so I don't think people should over-excited quite yet.

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PCanal says...
8:48am Thu 11 Mar 10

If one of Harry's constituents claimed over £1,000,000 in expenses for a second home that was in practive their first home, they would have been in court. It seems the police and CPS may agree!

Harry Cohen has lost his £65,000 resettlement grant but is due to make a profit of £100,000 on his home in Wanstead, funded by the ACA claims that the police are investigating.

If the CPS decide to prosecute and Harry is found to have broken the law, that profit should be forfeited.

Harry's successor as Labour candidate, John Cryer, also has a colourful expenses record.

http://tinyurl.com/J
ohnCryerExpenses
http://tinyurl.com/J
ohnCryerExpenses2

Perhaps he would like to repay the expenses he and his mother simultaneously made on the same flat - owned by his sister.

He claimed a total of just under half a million pounds from 2001 to 2006. At least Labour are offering their constituents consistency!

Plus ca change........

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PCanal says...
8:52am Thu 11 Mar 10

The full story about the investigation into Harry's dubious clams is worth a read.
tinyurl.com/DirtyHar
ry-TheSequel

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stevencummins says...
10:45am Thu 11 Mar 10

I am a Labour party member and am completely disgusted with the actions of Harry Cohen, who has let us all down.

Iif he is found guilty then I hope he will go to jail - same with all the other 'troughers' that you so rightly decribe them of, whatever party they belong to.

That doesn't mean that I think it is fair for Paul Canal, Deputy Chair of the local Conservative party to be making attacks on John Cryer that are without substantiation and disingenuous.

John Cryer has not claimed for a second home - and was given a completely clean bill of health by Thomas Legg who has looked at all previous expenses.

I notice you conveniently don't mention some of the serial offenders who just so happen to be local Conservative MPs- why aren't you attacking people such as Andrew Rosindell MP, who has claimed £104,699 on his 'second home 'despite living in Romford just 40 minutes by tube from Westminster.

Then of course there is Angela Watkinson (Tory MP for Upminster) who has claimed £82,886 on second homes since 2002, including £6350 from the taxpayer to refurbish her bathroom.

Both Rosindell and Watkinson voted in 2008 to block reform and maintain secrecy on MPs expenses (subsequently defeated thankfully!)

But Paul, you seem to have forgotten to mention this..

I also wonder how much of Lord Ashcroft's dirty money is flowing into the local Tory party's account - would Mr Canal come clean on this?

Indeed will the local Tory party, in the spirit of 'open-ness' declare who Edwin Northover has received political donations from?

Nope, thought not!!

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Morris Hickey says...
11:44am Thu 11 Mar 10

Will John Cryer benefit from the donations from Labour "non-dom" Lord Paul of Marylebone?

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Walthamstow noob says...
11:50am Thu 11 Mar 10

Why has this article been deleted from the Waltham Forest News section?

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March Hare says...
11:56am Thu 11 Mar 10

Where are we to find the new breed of politicians if, like Caesar's wife, they must be above suspicion? Politics is a murky business but at least reform of the party funding system would leave our politicians less besmirched.

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inézc says...
3:01pm Thu 11 Mar 10

I don't really think that it is appropriate for me to comment about this given the ongoing Police investigation but - ha ha ha serve you right!! - springs to mind.

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wansteadmum says...
3:13pm Thu 11 Mar 10

Come on 'stevencummins' - surely you must agree that it was madness for John Cryer to be selected as the Labour candidate for Leyton & Wanstead (not that the Labour members were given a fair shortlist to chose from in the first place by the national party). With Harry Cohen being probably the greediest of all the MPs abusing their expenses it is surely electoral suicide to have ANOTHER expenses cheat as the new candidate. It's not even as though he is a local fella who has shown constituents that he is a man of merit in other ways. Surely the electorate must show their displeasure at the ballot box !

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HSaunders says...
3:19pm Thu 11 Mar 10

I see that Harry Cohen has stated time after time that his wife Ellen was so ill that he had to use his Wanstead house as his main home. That does not explain why he chose to rent out his Colchester home OR why, if she was so ill, the Cohens could embark on so much refurbishment work to the house they bought in 2005. Besides, the Wanstead grapevine leads me to believe that the claims that Ellen Cohen was so ill have been massively over-egged.

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ITISMEAGAIN says...
4:00pm Thu 11 Mar 10

Their defence to these claims is, We only claimed these expences because we thought we were immune to investigations,becau
se we are M P's

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stevencummins says...
5:14pm Thu 11 Mar 10

No-one can defend what Harry Cohen has been doing as it is completely out of order - as I've said, local Labour party members were as shocked, disappointed and as angry as everyone else - perhaps even more so.

'wansteadmum' - I've noticed you've been very active on here on this issue, could you perchance be a Tory activist?

I note that no Tory activists/ members will utter a peep on the *huge* expenses that local Tory MPs Andrew Rosindell and Angela Watkinson have claimed over the years, nor the fact that they both voted against expenses reform, nor the fact that they have been re-selected as the official Conservative party candidates.

They are also troughers.. but if they are Tories, doesn't that matter to you?

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stevencummins says...
5:20pm Thu 11 Mar 10

oh one more thing 'wansteadmum' - could you provide me with evidence that John Cryer is an 'expenses cheat' as you claim?

I imagine you will point to a poorly researched Telegraph article - if you look at the facts he never took out a mortgage on a second property, instead commuting by tube home to his constituency. He did on occasion when votes took place until very late stayed in a room at his sister's property - in fact saving the taxpayer quite a large amount compared to the extortionate central London hotel bills many MPs rack up.

One more question, how much of Lord Ashcrofts dodgy money, which he has refused to pay tax on for 10 years, is oozing its way through to Edwin Northover's campaign?

Now, the Conservative party are hardly a model of honesty and open-ness are they?!?!

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Investigations says...
7:26pm Thu 11 Mar 10

It's tragic that this subject has generated so much quarrelling - regardless of party any dishonest conduct by members of parliament should trigger their immediate removal! What is it that has emboldened so many MP's to embark on such systematic and reckless behaviour? Are they on drugs or simply addicted to the greatest drug of all - personal power? The party system has failed the British people - join the local branch of your party and refuse the dictates of the puppet masters! Nominate some good, honest local men who you can trust as independantly thinking candidates for the next election or things will steadily get worse!

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Mr Bernard says...
9:38pm Thu 11 Mar 10

Stevencummins - Harry Cohen represented Leyton for the best part of 25 years. He represented a community where people struggle daily, where crime is an issue, where estates are left to deteriorate, where money is sparse , where schools are not fantastic and a place where there is, and has been for a long time, an air of depression around.

Cohen always struck me as an Old Labour type of guy, one who I imagined would have believed in helping those at the bottom of the ladder, those who feel failed by society and those who needed someone to fight their corner. His lack of morals is worst than all the stealing he has done. He not only stole from his constituents but decieved them as well and I think to try and compare him to Rosindell and Watkinson is ridiculous as none of those MP's are being investigated by the Police or stepping down.

Labour politicians have lost their core values and are just as greedy, if not more, than their Tory counterparts.
I'm sure Cryer is a nice guy, but I want an MP that lives in the constituency, that knows what issues we have and has credible ways of resloving them, that WILL NOT claim huge allowances (or be associated with past expenses scandals)....and an MP that will not pretend to care while filling their boots (aka Cohen) then they will get my vote....the only suitable person is Ed Northover, he may be a Tory but he is not a deceptive man parading as a old time socialist

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southpawpunch says...
9:57pm Thu 11 Mar 10

The Labour party mouthpiece here, stevencummins, is correct to point out the appalling record of local Tory MPs and their ‘expenses’. He could also have written similarly about Liberal Democrat MPs. And the abuses of many in his own party, as well.

But let him not muddy the waters about what Jon Cryer did when he was an MP before.

Jon Cryer’s mother, also an MP, had rented a flat in Westminster at a cost of £1200 a month. And Jon, MP for a constituency in Greater London (which he could easily return to at night) stayed at his mother’s rented flat, for which he claimed payments in 2004/5.

And who was the owner of the flat, the ultimate beneficiary of this money from the public purse as landlord - er, his sister!

How cosy! If my sister stayed at my place a few nights I wouldn’t charge her!

Now maybe that doesn’t break any of the rules. But that’s only because, naturally, parliament makes those rules.

Cryer won’t be getting my vote, nor any other yet declared candidate in this constituency. They are all as bad as each other and out for themselves.

I would only vote for a socialist.

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Morris Hickey says...
10:23pm Thu 11 Mar 10

stevencummins wrote:
oh one more thing 'wansteadmum' - could you provide me with evidence that John Cryer is an 'expenses cheat' as you claim? I imagine you will point to a poorly researched Telegraph article - if you look at the facts he never took out a mortgage on a second property, instead commuting by tube home to his constituency. He did on occasion when votes took place until very late stayed in a room at his sister's property - in fact saving the taxpayer quite a large amount compared to the extortionate central London hotel bills many MPs rack up. One more question, how much of Lord Ashcrofts dodgy money, which he has refused to pay tax on for 10 years, is oozing its way through to Edwin Northover's campaign? Now, the Conservative party are hardly a model of honesty and open-ness are they?!?!
Not entirely true, Mr Cummins. On another report I have disowned offenders, and I used the word "troughers" that you have since adopted. Ashcroft's money may, or may not, be dodgy but how would you describe the contributions from Lord Paul of Marylebone then (other than far less generous)?

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marsdan says...
12:19pm Fri 12 Mar 10

Lets not forget the previous leader of the council Clyd Loakes.
The counciler for Leytonstone should also be investigated for the miss managment of the council finance by scotland yard and not the local police who have to work with him.

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