Daily Mail bias: Nicholas Winterton vs Quentin Davies
Presumably most people will have heard the remarks of Nicholas Winterton about how terrible it is that MPs should be required to travel in standard class, rather than first class. Paul has already explained some of the factual errors in what he says, such as the argument that parliamentarians would relegate their privileges below that of councillors.
What I wanted to look at was the easy ride Nicholas Winterton has got from the Daily Mail, compared to the repeated headlines and furore in the final part of last year every time Labour MP Quentin Davies made similarly outraged remarks, beginning with the respective titles of the first pieces to come up from a google search.
‘People in standard class are totally different’: Veteran Tory Sir Nicholas Winterton on why MPs should be able to travel first class.
‘It’s all just a joke’, declares minister shamed over £20,000 bell-tower expenses claim.
A minister who submitted £20,000 in expenses for repairs to his roof and bell tower today dismissed the row over his claims as a ‘joke’.
In comments that risk reigniting the furore over his expenses, Quentin Davies insisted he had not done ‘anything remotely wrong’.
The defence minister was incredulous when asked if he had considered stepping down after his claims were revealed when documents were made public last week.
‘You must be absolutely joking,’ he said. ‘There’s absolutely nothing remotely that I have done wrong and nobody has ever suggested I have. This whole thing is a joke.’
Mr Davies’ claim for his £5million 18th century mansion was revealed last week, when the most recent expenses claims by MPs were published by the Commons.
He put in an invoice for £20,700 for roof repairs, including the bell tower, on his country home, in December 2008, telling officials to work out how much he could be repaid.
But after the expenses scandal broke last May, he he rushed to clarify to officials that he had never wanted the money for the bell tower.
By this time he had received £5,376.91 towards the work – the maximum allowed – so he did not need to write the letter, unless he wanted to pre-empt similar criticism.
His claim led to staff at the Ministry of Defence greeting each other with the phrase ‘ding dong’, but left the public with renewed disgust at Parliament.
On Winterton:
Tory grandee Sir Nicholas Winterton today claimed that MPs should be allowed to claim expenses to travel first-class on trains because passengers in standard class are ‘a totally different type of people’.
In an astonishing outburst, Sir Nicholas said that people travelling on cheaper standard tickets had ‘a different outlook on life’ and were unlikely to be working or studying during their journey.
And he claimed that MPs deserved to be treated like businesspeople and senior public servants and should be allowed to claim for first-class travel between their constituencies and London so they can work.
The MP’s extraordinary comments came after he told Total Politics magazine
said he was ‘ infuriated’ that politicians had to travel with ordinary members of the public.Sir Nicholas spoke of his outrage that he has to ‘stand when there are no seats’.
Sir Nicholas told BBC Radio 5 Live’s Stephen Nolan show today: ‘If I was in standard class, I would not do work because people would be looking over my shoulder all the time, there would be noise, there would be distraction and, I am sorry, if I am doing work I want to concentrate on that. Why do businesspeople travel first class?’
Asked whether he thought standard-class passengers behaved differently from those with first class tickets, Sir Nicholas replied: ‘Yes, I do. They are a totally different type of people.
‘There are lots of children, there is noise, there is activity…
‘They have a different outlook on life. I very much doubt whether they are undertaking serious work and study, reading reports and amending reports which MPs do when they are travelling.’
Both Davies and the Wintertons have ripped off the taxpayer. Both Davies and Winterton have made extraordinary, selfish, ridiculous remarks in the aftermath of the expenses scandal. For Davies, poor old MPs are being victimised. For Winterton, MPs can’t use headphones so they can get on with their work while travelling, like the rest of the population.
They have to travel first class.
Even the op-ed pieces (for both the above are straight ‘news’) dealing with the Winterton pair are almost gentle. Nice to see our media hasn’t lost its flair for even-handedness.
Davies switched parties in a big labour annoucement. Davies is a defense minister responsible for equipment where there have been problems. This tory mp isn’t a minister and is retiring and tory headquarters has blasted him.
I wasn’t making a point w.r.t. Tory HQ, I was making a point with regard to the Daily Mail. Are you arguing that offences against the public purse aren’t as big if someone isn’t a cabinet minister?
As for him crossing the floor, yes I’m well aware of that – Davies’ behaviour is typically Tory.
How disappointing to hear remarks such as this from an educated man. Probably some of the least ‘politic’ remarks any politician can make. People who travel standard class are dying for their country at the moment whilst this politician and his wife have been allowed to claim expenses, much of which has been paid for by’standard class’ tax payers.
I think we all know what he meant by this unecessary statement however it was both the context and the manner in which it was spoken. He will retire soon from a lifetime of politics; what a pity that this is the way he and his wife will be remembered.
I actually agree with him. While the concept of two classes of travel certainly offends my basic sense of justice, it does at least have practical benefits. It means I don’t have to listen to the conversation of tossers like Nicholas Winterton when I’m on the train. I don’t have to listen to some loudmouth brag about his latest business deal, or laugh about how the working class are all like characters off of Shameless. I like to have peace and quiet when travelling. I couldn’t get any work done if I had to listen to Winterton slurping champagne all trip.
The only complaint I have on this story is that the media, and especially the bbc, cover this storm in a tiny teacup story ad nauseum instead of maturely discussing our chronic finances and astronomical debts that have now reached such epic proportions that in realistic developed country terms they are worse than Greece’s.
Will the bbc stop at nothing to get these venal creatures back into power?
Are you taking the piss?
The BBC discusses every single day – whether in online articles or in commentary on one of its many branches – the deficit. I swear to god, a day doesn’t go past without some Tory whining on about it on the Today programme, which is what I wake up to.
Moreover, this is far from a storm in a teacup. It demonstrates, I think, the continuing detachment of parliamentarians from reality. Which, since you wish for a right-wing spin on it, could be one reason why they make such bloody stupid decisions like all this spending.
Tories on the Toady Programme? Surely not.
Listen today and hear the loony left ministers state all is going to plan including the £4.3 Billion borrowed in January.
For your information
My information is fine, thanks. And you missed both the substantive points of that argument.