Miller has resigned as Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport

Maria Miller has resigned as Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, largely after a lot of defiance to public opinion, and even her own colleagues.

Mrs Miller has harmed her party, and politics in general.

Feelings are especially strong among those Tories who will fight marginal seats next year, and makes it harder for the party to win the seats that will decide the outcome of the next election.

Mrs Miller is generally regarded by colleagues as personally pleasant and affable, albeit a bit distant. But to voters, she has looked like another politician on the take who was caught out and then resorted to legalistic dodges and trickery in order to cling on to her job.

Most of the anger at Mrs Miller is not at her actions but her manner. Her brusque apology to the Commons was seen as insufficient and her behaviour has come across as graceless and evasive.

Much of the rise of Ukip and Nigel Farage is down to Mr Farage’s ability to present himself to voters as an honest man in a world of liars, someone who speaks his mind while others just offer bland soundbites and follow the party line.

Undoubtedly, the Miller saga will fuel the rise of Ukip.

Mrs Miller's camp had, on Tuesday night, attempted a fight-back after days of newspaper headlines, by suggesting she was a victim of a witch-hunt because she was dealing with press reforms recommended in the Leveson report.

In fact she has been her own worst enemy by claiming expenses that she was not entitled to.

 Parliament's sleaze watchdog ordered her to pay back £5,800 of wrongly claimed allowances on the house in Wimbledon, southwest London, which she sold for a £1.2m profit in February. However, it emerged that the Commissioner for Parliamentary Standards had found that Mrs Miller should have paid back £45,000 in expenses claimed on the home but this was over-ruled by the Standards Committee of 10 MPs and three independent members, who do not have a vote.

Once again it has led to calls for an end to a system where MPs are allowed to police their own expenses.

When interviewed pm Sky News, Nadine Dorries MP said that. expenses HAVE to be abolished and that the word expenses is toxic. She suggest that MPs should only be able to claim accommodation expenses, and not expenses in relation to a second home, plus travel expenses.

After her resignation, Cameron sent her a letter in which he says;

I think it is important to be clear that the Committee on Standards cleared you of the unfounded allegations made against you, a point which has been lost in much of the comment in recent days.

So why has she had to pay back  £5800

He further says;

“You have been responsible for successfully handling two of the most controversial issues with which this Government has dealt”.

But these are some of the things that have polarised the country.

Cameron is now facing a difficult time at Prime Minister's Questions and a meeting of the Tory back benchers, for his lack of leadership in trying to support Mrs Miller.

DO YOU TRUST OUR POLITICIANS?

Culture Secretary Maria Miller was today ordered to repay £5,800 in expenses and apologise to the House of Commons.

An investigation by the Commons standards watchdog found she had overclaimed on mortgage bills in 2008-09, and the money must be returned.

The Committee on Standards spent almost 18 months investigating her use of the taxpayer-funded second home allowance.

Kathryn Hudson, the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner, apparently said: 'Throughout my inquiry it has been difficult to establish information and evidence to the standard of proof which I would have wished.

'It has also been difficult to find evidence to corroborate information provided by Mrs Miller’.

'Many of her responses to my questions have been very general and required repeated probing.'

In other words it appears as though, Maria Miller tried desperately to cover up her sins.

Just yesterday a young woman was convicted after spending money that had been paid into her bank account by mistake.

This claiming of expenses by Maria Miller was no mistake. It was a deliberate action and she got caught out. Why is she not subject to arrest.

Why is it the Committee on Standards who investigated and not the Police?

Politicians are at their lowest level of trust with the electorate, and there is no wonder. Time and time again they have been shown to be liars and criminals, that expect to get away with it, simply because they have MP after their name.

Wouldn’t it be nice if we could return to the age when politicians who were caught out committing some indiscretion would resign instantly, but no, today Cameron stood up and defended Miller.

Is there any wonder that Farage is progressing at the pace that he is?

The press sniff at Farage and call him a "Comic figure".

Well lets ask who has held a proper job outside politics? Cameron, Milliband, Clegg or Farage?

Welcome to the lunacies of the European debate.

We the electorate are the comics if we keep voting for political science students who are full of their own importance and know as much about real life and people as I do about knitting. The Labour Tory and LibDems need party leaders who have had a career outside of politics so they can bring something to the party?

The three party leaders are professional politicians with zero experience in the real world. 
Farage has arrived on the scene, and whilst I accept that he will never form a government in my life time, he has shaken the tired political village in the UK. Our politicians are being forced to listen to what the general population wants, and react.

It’ beginning to look like he who pays the piper is calling the tune - again!

Why voters deserted Hollande and Socialists in French local elections or Should we expect the same for the UK traditional parties?

The huge swing to the right in France in the municipal elections was an expression of huge dissatisfaction with president François Hollande and his Socialist-led government.

Nicolas Sarkozy’s UMP party made huge gains, the Front National exceeded its own official expectations, and the Socialists were humiliated.

So how come the clear winners of the municipal elections were the UMP, with an impressive showing for the FN?

What went wrong for the Socialists?

The government has gradually alienated all its traditional voters…

Many blue collar workers, and another traditionally left-voting category, teachers, are fed up. Many are furious about a change in pensions, and education changes that appear on almost a weekly basis. Immigration has been treated as a subject that shouldn’t be discussed openly.
Public sector workers, nearly always solid Socialist supporters in France, fear for their jobs after Hollande’s pledge to find 50 billion euros worth of savings as part of the highly contentious Pacte de Responsibilité. (Under this pact, businesses will no longer have to pay social charges for their employees, in return they must create jobs - the shortfall in government revenue will be offset by 50 billion euros of cuts in state expenditure).

Many people are angered by the government’s law allowing gay marriage. The government has certainly alienated many of its traditional voters.

Add to that a failure to produce results on the biggest issues which affect the whole country:

Unemployment is at record levels, there has been virtually no progress on reducing the country’s deficit and there is huge resentment over taxes which the president himself conceded in January had reached the limits of acceptance. For many low-income families, a boost in purchasing power is a priority.

The result was the many voters on the left punished the party by abstaining defecting to the Front National.

If Hollande had hoped that a good showing by the Front National would split the right wing vote, he received a bitter awakening. Apart from in some towns such as Avignon, it was often the Socialists, not the UMP, who lost supporters to the FN.

Why?

Marine Le Pen, an excellent TV performer, has unquestionably improved the image of the Front National and modernised the party.

Le Pen rejects the label extreme right for her party and has threatened to sue media organisations who describe her party as such, though she has not yet done so.

She is vehemently anti-EU and has gained many working class voters with her insistence that Brussels now runs France.

On immigration, some analysts say there are 2 FN electorates: where, the FN collects voters from the right, sometimes from well-off areas, as demonstrated in a by election in Brignolles last year. In northern France, in towns such as Henin-Beaumont, FN voters appears to come mostly from the disaffected poor .

In opinion polls FN voters frequenlty cite rising crime figures as the reason for their decision to choose the party.

The UMP benefited from an almost tangible dislike of Hollande's presidency and his government and appears to have led to an emotional groundswell of support for Sarkozy’s party..

What happens now?

In May, French voters will go to the polls again in elections to the European Parliament, followed by Senatorial and then regional elections. Hollande is being urged to act quickly to demonstrate that he is listening to voters and will make changes.

Today there will be a cabinet reshuffle, headed by a new prime minister, but on the much more important matter of where France is heading and how it gets there, Hollande is in an almost impossible situation, and knows that if France fails to make economic cuts, both the EU and financial speculators will lose confidence in the country with potentially dire consequences.

One of the most telling aspects of this election was that Hollande and the government were so surprised by the scale of their losses in both the first and second rounds.

It is striking how cut off they and France’s left-wing Paris-dominated intelligentsia and media appear to be from the views of ordinary people elsewhere in France.

They do not appear to understand the annoyance of ordinary non-Parisian French people, who want jobs, more purchasing power, less crime and feel they are never the beneficiaries of government handouts.

Many business people are leaving France in droves for China, London or the USA, attracted by what they see as more business-friendly climates.

But those lower down the social scale often cannot leave France and they’re getting increasingly angry.

This is almost a complete description of the situation in the UK, and unless politicians from the traditional parties wake up and come out of their 'my turn your turn' attitude to elections then they will be in for a complete shock!

Why are Politicians frightened to give ex Pats the vote

Reality shows that the UK is not a full democracy. Universal Adult Suffrage is not respected and is even deliberately legislated against in the case of UK nationals living abroad. The UK political system is effectively an elected dictatorship in which almost unlimited power is given to the government to do whatever it wants without consulting the electorate between elections.

If you complain politicians will reply with the worn phrase, “If you don’t like what we are doing, vote us out at the next election” In the meanwhile, they do what they want, knowing full well that if you vote them out, they will have their turn, in all probability at the following election.

UKIP is now shaking up that principle. In France the mainstream political parties have been severely shaken up after the recent local elections by the Front National, and the British politicians of the established parties are beginning to worry.

The UK needs a system more like the Swiss Direct Democracy, where Manifesto promises must be honoured, and every major government policy introduced between elections must be approved by a majority of the electors before it can be implemented and where the electors can themselves propose policies that, if approved in a vote, must be implemented by the government. It is time that control of both policies and politicians was given back to the people.

David Cameron has legislated to ask ALL UK citizens whether to remain part of the EU” – but all expatriate citizens who left the UK more than 15 years ago are excluded from voting.

In the same way ALL Scots should be allowed to vote in such an important referendum for the very future of their country, and ALL non-UK citizens should be excluded from voting – currently non-Scottish and non UK citizens living in Scotland will be allowed to vote – in what way is it their business to determine Scottish independence?
In the United Kingdom, that is TOTALLY anti-democratic, when, in the 21st century, we have politicians denying 800,000 British Scottish citizens the opportunity for democratic expression on their own constitutional status. That smacks of discrimination and is wrong.

Politicians claim they want the British public electorate, to participate in political life, and yet deny in legislation, voting rights to its own citizens, simply because they have taken up their legal right to move elsewhere in the European Union.

Now in 2017, David Cameron has legislated to ask all UK citizens whether to remain part of the EU, and yet denies the vote to a large group of British Citizens, to whom it will have one of the biggest effects.

THAT IS WRONG!

Is there any more proof that the Daily Mail are running scared of UKIP

Three articles published by the same writer on the same day.

Lazy Ukip MEPs are more interested in claiming their salaries than standing up for Britain, Nick Clegg claims

Lib Dem leader steps up his attack on Ukip ahead of Brussels elections

Accuses Ukip of not tabling any new legislation since 2009

Ukip opposed curbs on mobile phone roaming charges, Clegg says.

Nigel Farage accuses Deputy PM of being a 'hypocrite' for missed votes

Clegg and Farage to go head-to-head in radio and TV debates

By MATT CHORLEY, MAILONLINE POLITICAL EDITOR

PUBLISHED: 09:04 GMT, 5 March 2014

Ukip given £25,000 by manufacturer of e-cigarettes which were later hailed as 'remarkable' by smoker Nigel Farage.

Ukip leader appeared in 90-second film attacking EU plans to ban devices

After puffing on screen he says he could 'very easily' give up smoking

He criticised plans to outlaw refillable e-cigarettes made by 'entrepreneurs'

Pillbox38 Ltd, which makes Totally Wicked refillable e-cigs, gave £25,000

Donation made to Ukip in May 2013, but bosses now say they regret it.

By MATT CHORLEY, MAILONLINE POLITICAL EDITOR

PUBLISHED: 11:04 GMT, 5 March 2014

Businesses should be allowed to turn away women, gay and black people, claims Ukip councillor and MEP candidate

Donna Edmunds said firms should not be forced to serve or sell to anyone

Insisted she is a 'libertarian' and government should not legislate

She is a councillor in Lewes and standing to be an MEP in the South East

Nigel Farage said his candidates were of a 'calibre to be proud of'.

By MATT CHORLEY, MAILONLINE POLITICAL EDITOR

PUBLISHED: 14:08 GMT, 5 March 2014 

Important for ex pats to have the vote.

Researchers estimate that there are 5.5 million expat Britons, living abroad, so at a time when politicians are genuinely worried about voter apathy, why are they denying a large group of British Citizens the right to vote in National Elections. The reason is quite obvious. They can walk over them without compunction knowing that at the next election they will not be voted out of office.

We all know of the saga of Winter Fuel Payments and the fraudulent way the government in the form of Iain Duncan Smith are massaging statistics to stop payments to pensioners living in “Hot” countries. Another worrying attack on ex pats is contained in The Pensions Bill, a Government Bill sponsored by Mr Iain Duncan Smith MP. that has almost completed its stages in the House of Lords. It has numerous amendments which have to be debated back to the Commons.

 Expatriate Pensioners and Prisoners are covered under the same heading!  Clause 20 remains which would enable pensions to be frozen for British Citizens living in the EU, if the UK were to leave the EU. 

Objective - The establishment of a new basis for pensions.  Clause 20, enables the government to freeze pensions for all expats if the UK were to leave the EU and will most certainly now remain in place after its passage through the Lords.

This is why it is important for ex pats to have the vote.

Ex pats who have lived in the EU for less than 15 years still retain the right to vote but you must register. Please listen to the short radio advert concerning voter registration by clicking the link below.

http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/__data/assets/mp3_file/0007/165616/Mix-ElectoralComm40-VotingBackHome-29-1-14.mp3 

WHY?

Why, when in the world, there is a natural disaster, they ask us to come together to raise money, but when it's our own, the council charge those in need for sandbags....

Christchurch Borough Council in Dorset has been asking locals to pay £30 for four sandbags.

Flood victims in storm-hit Cornwall are having to pay for sandbags.

In Devon, Torridge District Council is charging £3.50 per sandbag.

Councils.. They should be disgusted with themselves.

David Cameron is promising to set aside millions as aid to flood victims but when you see the vast sums involved in overseas aid you have to ask if he is serious?

Britain's record national debt, is estimated to have surpassed £1 trillion.

Factoring in all liabilities including state and public sector pensions, the real national debt is closer to £4.8 trillion.

The Office for National Statistics said public sector net borrowing came in at £85.1bn for the 2012-13 financial year.

Services are being cut in the UK to balance the books, but then to make us look good in the eyes of the world we give away £11 bn as overseas aid. Where is the sense in that?

In spite of cuts to public services at home, Britain’s aid budget has been boosted to £8.3billion a year and is still committed to increasing it from 0.56 per cent of GDP this year to 0.7 per cent of GDP.

Britain won plaudits for being the only G8 country to increase its international aid budget.

It is reported that in 2012, Britain sent £27.4million to China, according to official figures, one of the fastest growing economies in the world -  £27million towards improvements to the docks in Mombasa - £437,500 for the planting of biofuels in Mozambique -  £600,000 on children’s TV in Kenya -  £3.4million to a project to increase the participation of women in small and medium sized businesses in Nicaragua -  £1.2million towards the privatisation of utilities in Nigeria and another £80,000 on a study of the link between gender equality and growth also in Nigeria.

Other projects are just plain hypocritical. We are paying £53million on a project aimed at increasing citizens’ participation in the political system in the Congo, when we deny our own citizens the vote simply because they choose to live elsewhere in Europe on reaching retirement.

Whilst it is good help 3rd world countries in the short term to feed, and clothe people who might otherwise have gone hungry or cold after a natural distaster. Why are we paying countries, for their governments incompetence.

David Cameron may enjoy strutting the world stage. But for the Britons getting by on shrinking incomes the case for vanity projects on distant continents is rather less clear.

Foreign aid cash should be diverted to help the victims of floods in Britain, according to the UK Independence Party.

Party leader Nigel Farage said ''Anyone with an ounce of common sense knows that a government's primary duty is to the well-being of its own citizens,'and called on the government to suspend international aid while the country was dealing with the aftermath of recent extreme weather.

He dismissed Prime Minister David Cameron's pledge of £100 million extra spending as ''far too little, far too late''

You will find very few Britons who will argue with that sentiment.