{"id":134904,"date":"2023-11-25T08:31:14","date_gmt":"2023-11-25T08:31:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/?p=134904"},"modified":"2023-11-25T08:31:14","modified_gmt":"2023-11-25T08:31:14","slug":"camerons-reshuffle-panic-mps-expenses-madness-and-gb-news-fills-with-hot-air","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/politics\/camerons-reshuffle-panic-mps-expenses-madness-and-gb-news-fills-with-hot-air\/","title":{"rendered":"Cameron’s reshuffle panic, MPs’ expenses madness, and GB News fills with hot air"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Cameron’s reshuffle panic<\/h3>\n

For starters, cast your mind back to the excitement of last Monday\u2019s reshuffle, the sacking of Suella Braverman and the return of an old SW1 face.<\/p>\n

Beachcomber’s sympathy goes to the staffer for new Conservative MP Lisa Cameron (late of the SNP), who found herself fielding dozens of phone calls on a torrid Monday morning.<\/p>\n

She told Beachcomber: “People were calling asking if I was the new Foreign Secretary.<\/p>\n

“It took a while for us to realise what was going on.\u201d<\/p>\n

After former leader David now “My Lord” Cameron was put in the job, she noted: “It’s a big clan.”<\/p>\n

It turns out that when Ms Cameron was first elected, her mailbox was next to the former Prime Minister\u2019s.<\/p>\n

“I kept getting his Christmas cards,” she said.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: <\/strong> New Party of Islam and No.10 needs a spellchecker \u2013 latest Westminster rumours<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Expenses madness<\/h3>\n

Yesterday provided Sir Arbuthnot with something of an early Christmas present – namely the publication of the latest batch of MP expenses.<\/p>\n

After combing through the 28,074-line document – ok there may have been some ctrl-F\u2019ing involved – here\u2019s a couple of surprise findings.<\/p>\n

Earnings for Elon<\/strong><\/p>\n

Two MPs have decided to bill the taxpayer for their Twitter\/X premium memberships, introduced by Elon Musk, which allows them to post longer tweets, customise the app and even make money by signing up to the ad revenue sharing scheme.<\/p>\n

Helen Whately – a senior Health minister – and Andrew Bridgen both leapt on the new feature, and duly charged the taxpayer \u00a3100.80 for membership.<\/p>\n

Toilet politics<\/strong><\/p>\n

While Labour tears itself apart over whether trans women should be allowed into the ladies, Claudia Webbe has no such toilet troubles – she billed the taxpayer \u00a320 for a new constituency office loo seat.<\/p>\n

Labour\u2019s expenses blind spot<\/strong><\/p>\n

The most jaw-dropping claim of all came from Jonathan Ashworth, who was appointed Shadow Minister without Portfolio in Sir Keir\u2019s summer reshuffle (otherwise known as Minister for the Today Programme).<\/p>\n

Mr Ashworth is down as having claimed a whopping \u00a33,206 in taxpayer-funded expenses for “New blinds for constituency office”.<\/p>\n

This one was so surprising yours truly went to Mr Ashworth\u2019s office for clarification – a missing decimal point perhaps?<\/p>\n

Their explanation: that their 10th-floor Leicester office required custom-made blinds due to the very large windows, and they \u201chad to be fitted by specialists for safety reasons\u201d.<\/p>\n

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Cleverly apologises for ‘unparliamentary language’ but denies insulting Stockton[LATEST] <\/strong><\/p>\n

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