Still sporting a beard, the former head of Essex County Council sat in the glorious Chelmsford sunshine and said he is hopeful he can ditch the title of "disgraced peer" following his conviction for fiddling his parliamentary expenses.
Really? Just how do you plan to do that, then, and does it involve operation of a specially-fitted DeLorean?
"I hope people do not judge me by one mistake, but my previous record," said Lord Hanningfield, jailed for nine months after being found guilty at the end of a ten-day trial in May for fraudulently claiming nearly £14,000.
It’s just so unfair, isn’t it?
"I don't want to be called 'disgraced' any more. I just want to get back to having a normal life. Even Jeffrey Archer is not 'disgraced' any longer."
Really? Oddly enough, it
does get mentioned in articles and is forever enshrined in Wikipedia. Just like it will be with you.
"I think people who know me know I made a mistake and know I'm not a master criminal. Anyone would have thought I committed two murders with the amount of publicity I got."
You didn’t ‘make a mistake’, you claimed for hotel stays in London that you didn’t make! That’s deliberate fraud!
He will either get involved in international development or, more likely, penal reform, a topic close to his heart after spending nine weeks at a minimum security prison in Kent.
He is adamant he can make a difference to the lives of young inmates and still keeps in contact with his old cellmate, Dell, a petty crook caught with a boot full of cannabis in Maidstone, and plans to meet up with him in the near future.
*bites lip*
"Some people in prison would be better served in their communities – it won't cost so much money and would help them with their rehabilitation. There are so many people in their 20s who need a lot of help with the rest of their lives," he said.
You know who really deserves ‘a lot of help’? It’s the people who
aren’t criminals…
Fortunately for him the expenses system at the House of Lords has changed.
"You can't mess it up," he grinned. "It's completely idiot-proof."
You didn’t ‘mess it up’! You committed fraud!
8 comments:
I am not surprised the fraudster was smiling :-
"Fortunately for him the expenses system at the House of Lords has changed.
"You can't mess it up," he grinned. "It's completely idiot-proof."
idiot proof - that is a nice way of describing what the complete idiots who devised it delivered up - a "new, fairer system" which was going to "save substantial amounts" and which said idiots were told, including by members of the Upper House who actually possess a working brain cell or two, quite loudly, was certainly not "going to save substantial sums" but was "going to cost even more" because, as was quite evident, by bringing in a "fixed rate, flat all day payment" which "took into account certain allowances that previously had to be claimed" meant that quite a lot of members of the Upper House started being paid, automatically and every day they attended, allowances they had previously never claimed. And guess what, at the end of the first year of the new "goign to reduce costs system" it was discovered costs had risen by about a third - immediately prompting all the complete f-wits who had devised it to go around saying "how has this happened !"
Like I said, no wonder he was grinning - he no longer has to go to the lengths of falsifying claims, the new system will see him get more than before, without him having to do anything more than just turn up ...he doesn't even have to spend much time in the chamber - he could spend most of it in the tea rooms if he liked ..
The self-delusion is utterly sickening, isn't it?
In my view anyone released early from a custodial sentence who does not accept their guilt or show any contrition should serve the rest.
No doubt his legal team have told him to just use the term mistake, since in his head it means sending him there was the mistake not committing the crime.
I shall however, think of him as Fraud Hanningfield.
What has happened to his other charges concerning Essex CC, or have they been quietly dropped?.
What has happened to his other charges concerning Essex CC, or have they been quietly dropped?.
Investigation into ECC expenses have been passed to City of London police.
Update : Hanningfield and fellow jailbird to be welcomed back by fellow peers
as in the Indy Monday 09 April 2012
Two disgraced peers who made false expenses claims will be allowed to return to the Lords after Easter, even though they have served prison sentences.
The Tory peers Lord Hanningfield and Lord Taylor of Warwick will be able to resume their seats and claim their £300-a-day allowances because the rules of the second chamber make no provision for peers to be expelled or to step down voluntarily.
I don’t get it
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