UKC

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/africa-minister-mark-simmonds...

Apparently you can't get family accommodation in London for £28k pa, so better to jack the job in than risk having to pay for somewhere to live out of your minister's salary (plus of course the salary for the missus for running the office, a job I'm sure she had to fight off a plethora of other highly-qualified candidates for).

I really can't express the contempt I feel for the hypocrisy of shits like this.

I'm sure someone will soon be along to justify it.

In reply to Malcolm Tucker's Sweary Aunt:

So a quick search on Rightmove rental properties gives 10 hits for properties in Westminster with 3 or more bedrooms for less than £2000 a month... so not sure what he's whinging about!!!

In reply to Malcolm Tucker's Sweary Aunt: You're not being fair, he was being asked to live 'like a normal person' on about £140K pa ... oh, plus exes ... and with a chauffeured car ... and personal staff ... poor lamb!

In reply to Rob Exile Ward:
In his circles anything under £200k is "chicken feed"

"Intolerable" that expenses are are now so miserly and scrutinised so closely.


Life's a Bitch.

In reply to Malcolm Tucker's Sweary Aunt:

I won't justify it, the man's clearly out for all he could get out of the public purse. He'll be okay with his interests in Circle Healthcare (a government minister should not be allowed interests in an organisation creaming off the NHS) and his company Mortlock Simmonds Brown who have been 'donating' cash to er, Mark Simmonds.

http://searchthemoney.com/profile/547/197?p0=1#tabsx-1

Guys like him have constructed a self serving web it's hard to believe they are legit or moral enough for the normal joe in the street never mind a government minister.

http://helpmeinvestigate.com/health/2011/11/25/whos-who-mark-simmonds/
“Mark Simmonds is the former Conservative Shadow Health Spokesman and a vocal supporter of the government’s controversial Health and Social Care Bill. Circle Health pay Mr Simmonds £50k a year (on top of his £65k MP salary) for 10 hours’ work a month, as “an advisor”.

Note this was in 2011 before Simmonds was made a minister along with attendant pay rise in Sep 2012.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-15436685
Circle Health were awarded a £1billion contract to run Hinchingbrooke Hospital in Cambridgeshire in Nov 2011.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-17104463
During several debates on healthcare in the run up to the Health and Social Care Bill, Mark Simmonds 'forgot' to mention his interests in Circle Healthcare.

Circle Holdings are the parent company for Circle Health, they're based in Jersey, guess how much tax they pay in the UK?

You have to applaud this guy and his type for ripping the utter pish out of the country and its taxpayers, all legally of course - easy when this guy and his type are enacting laws and policy in the first place.

In reply to Malcolm Tucker's Sweary Aunt:

You cannot blame a guy for putting his family first. He's sacrificing his career too.

In reply to Malcolm Tucker's Sweary Aunt:

Nothing to justify, if you would drop your tribal bile and bigotry and engage what passes for your brain.

He is resigning both as a minister and as an MP, so not trying to live off the public purse at all. So having said that he does not think the situation is viable, he has taken the appropriate action. What on earth is your beef with that?

In reply to Simon4: Because his family income is something like 5 - 6 times the national average, with additional support and employment conditions that most of us could only dream of.

If he thinks that he cannot sustain family life under those conditions, how the hell does he think the rest of us manage?

Patently there's a back story here.

In reply to Simon4:

Nothing tribal about my post.

He is part of a government which has inflicted pain on many people and yet describes trying to live in London on £150k pa (roughly) as "intolerable". You would think that even if that's what he thought, he would have the nous and sensitivity to keep it to himself. It does make him look just a tad out of touch with the people he's been elected to represent, doesn't it?

At least he's doing the decent thing and pissing-off, although whether it's his desire to be a family man or the rise of UKIP in his constituency behind it I suppose we'll never know.

In reply to Malcolm Tucker's Sweary Aunt:

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/aug/12/90000-not-enough-expen...

Interesting take on it.