A Laws unto himself

I've just read the big news of the evening and, no doubt, the bank holiday weekend.

It seems David Laws, George Osborne's chief axe-man at the Treasury, has claimed more than £40,000 to rent a room owned by his partner. The news (if it is news, I was certainly unaware though) that David is gay is, or at least should be, by the by given it is no concern of anyone's but slicing tens of thousands of public funds into your pocket just because you have the opportunity to do so means that you simply can't go on with the 'we're all in this together' drive of cutting jobs, cutting public sector salaries and cutting spending in general.

I do wonder if there will be an attempt to conflate the news of his sexuality with the news of the expenses scandal, offsetting the sympathy he may garner for the former with the fury he will attract from the latter. I sincerely hope not. David should resign, step well away from the limelight, answer to any investigations that are deemed necessary and only then try to return to front bench politics if he still fancies it and Cameron and/or Clegg will still have him.

For me, the worst part is that there was so much scrutiny over expenses last year, during the nadir of the whole debacle, and David Laws must have reflected on his arrangements and known they were improper and against the 2006 rules which stated that MPs cannot claim money for renting property from "a partner". Not fessing up then has blown apart any claims that this is a genuine error. The excuse that he just wanted to keep his relationship a secret may be understandable but it is also insufficient.

David Laws, I hope you enjoyed your time serving in the coalition Government, you only have hours or days left. An apology is nowhere near enough I'm afraid.

As for the Liberal-Conservative coalition, it will live on, but it's just received its first body blow.


UPDATE - There seems to be a consensus growing amidst Lib Dem activists that this is a hatchet job by the Telegraph, using the expenses story to 'out' David.

A person is of course entitled to keep their private life private, irrespective of what job they do, but that right does not extend to using your private life to break rules that date back to 2006, rules that must surely exist for a reason.

The Liberal Democrat party has past form too, George Lyon employing his partner Flora Boyd in clear breach of the EU parliament's rules, and that was even after the MEP checked.

There has also been a suggestion that David Laws is actually saving us money which is just bizarre given a random person is having his mortgage paid off on our behalf and, again, completely overlooks the fact that there's rules in place.

Lib Dems may be self-proclaimed champions of fairness but that doesn't mean you can just pick and choose the rules that adhere to you and those that don't.