2320 Hrs GMT London Sunday 5 April 2009:
KHOODEELAAR! evidential note on the further details about UK Interior Minister Jacqui Smith’s expenses...conduct that is unethical, immoral and against the basic standards of democratic accountability...even if the demands of basic , universally understood decency were to be suspended because those concepts are beyond the grasp of the typical British politicians...if the same actions were found in the life of ordinary people who are neither in post as elected m embers nor as ministers then those ordinary people concerned would be treated as criminals.. They would be prosecuted for fraud, theft, deception and more...It is more than ironic that in addition to Jacqui Smith [who is not technically speaking a skilled lawyer or a trained lawyer but who is the allegedly anti-crime ‘;Ho,me Office’s head at the moment!!!!!!!] the other three who have featured in a noticeable way in the MPs’ expenses and grubbing ‘news items’ today [Sunday 5 April 2009] are all trained lawyers. The Tory Ken Clarke made a tellingly corrupting and disgraceful statement in the idiotic utterances he made via the PLIANT liars-backing BBC. And Geoff Hoon is also a trained lawyer. As is Alistair Darling ...All four of them would know what a crime is... And in the case of the Crossrail Bill-presenter [House of Commons, 22 February 2005] Alistair Darling, he would know how severely they harass the so-called benefit cheats. Poor people, no, people pushed into poverty by the UK Government, are started as prima facie criminals at the slightest sign of any state benefit being paid to them in alleged error or as a result of petty fraud....Alistar Darling was Secretary of State at the Department for Deprivation Want and Poverty-creation [DWP]... He took over after the abysmal performance by the opportunistic, cruel and unfeeling Harriet Harman [as Frank careerist fraudster Field]. Harman was such a disaster as Tony Blair’s first holder in the office of Secretary of State at the Department for Deprivation, Want and Poverty-Creation...[To be continued]
33rd year AADHIKAR
0225 GMT Thursday 06 June 2013
AADHIKAR Media Foundation Editor © Muhammad Haque
Founding News Editor
Shah M Azizul Haque
AADHIKAR Media Foundation established with the publication of AADHIKAR the weekly on Monday 19 December 1980 from London E1 UK.
Sunday, April 5, 2009
KHOODEELAAR! evidential note on the lack of standards in Crossrail scam-peddler Geoff Hoon's behaviour
2215 Hrs GMT London Sunday 5 April 2009:
Only last week, commenting on the disclosures about the embarrassing revelations around the UK Interior Minister [‘Home Secretary’] Jacqui Smith’s domestic life [!!!], we had said the following [see item below this updater introduction]. We also said that even worse facts might appear... They have done... Geoff Hoon, the Crossrail scam-peddling Big Business frontman at the UK Department for Transport [=DfT] has not only been exposed as having behaved with additional embarrassment.. he has shown that he lacks any sense of decency.. Had he possessed a sense of decency then he would not have said what he has been saying according to reports as published all day today [Sunday 5 April 200].. He has been reported as saying that he has done anything wrong.. What more wrong things does a Big Business-peddling Minister have to do before the wrong become a wrong too far? [To be continued] WHAT KHOODEELAAR! had said last week: 0225 Hrs GMT London Monday 30 March 2009: KHOODEELAAR! evidential notes on the culture of unaccountability in the UK Parliament. As we have been arguing for over 5 years, the UK Executive is liable to go off the rails. The rails and the tracks of normality. Of constitutionality. Of decency and decorum as demanded by adherence to democratic accountability.. What has Jacqui Smith’s location this week at the centre of this deeply humiliating personal embarrassment to the role she played and her fellow Blairing MPs played in giving the nod and the yes to the Big Business Crossrail hole scam Bill? What rigours would have spared Jacqui Smith this experience? We say a lot. Had there been a robust, rigorous and ethically active Parliament, most of the personal acts of embarrassment, would not have occurred. But as the UK Parliament is a propaganda place, there to promote the agenda being touted via the Executive, we have these spectacles.…. Accidentally exposed MPS and ministers found with their snouts in the trough or EVEN worse.. [To be continued]
From the MAIL ON SUNDAY website:
MAIL COMMENT: How MPs' gravy train railroads public trust
Last updated at 11:09 PM on 05th April 2009
Comments (0)
Add to My Stories
Geoff Hoon and Alistair Darling claiming fortunes in second-home allowances while living in grace-and-favour residences... Jacqui Smith billing the taxpayer £104 for a patio heater and £2.50 for a toothbrush holder...married MPs Peter and Iris Robinson pocketing £571,939 a year in salaries and expenses...Labour's Kevin Brennan charging £10,200 stamp duty to the public purse...
And these are just the revelations of one weekend. Truly, our MPs could not have their snouts any deeper in the trough.
Worse, it emerges that, unlike any 'benefit in kind' paid to the rest of us by an employer, MPs do not have to pay tax on their obscene perks. The reason? An exemption passed in 2003 by - you guessed it - the MPs themselves.
Geoff Hoon claimed fortunes in second-home allowances
Of course, all those accused yesterday deny any wrongdoing, saying they cleared their sleazy antics in advance with the Parliamentary Fees Office. But the Fees Office is merely administering a lax rule book of the MPs' own creation.
Nor is there much chance of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, John Lyon, holding them to account, should anybody protest about their conduct. This £108,000-a-year toothless tiger has resolved only one of the 113 complaints he has received so far, with most dismissed summarily.
David Cameron is at least showing signs of recognising the gravy train must be halted, pledging that no Conservative Cabinet minister with a grace-and-favour flat will claim a second-home allowance.
More from Daily Mail Comment...
MAIL COMMENT: Pay up, Mr Ross!03/04/09
MAIL COMMENT: A protest for privacy03/04/09
MAIL COMMENT: A day on, the G20 deal loses its shine03/04/09
MAIL COMMENT: G20 produces an almost historic compromise... 03/04/09
MAIL COMMENT: Amid the razzmatazz, there's work to do 02/04/09
MAIL COMMENT: What shocks Auntie? It's not expenses, but the mole at the Commons31/03/09
MAIL COMMENT: A story of two nations... the private employee and the public sector worker31/03/09
MAIL COMMENT: Learning the lessons of this shameful war31/03/09
VIEW FULL ARCHIVE
But what of Gordon Brown? When asked about the news Mr Hoon had pocketed £70,000 in second-home allowances while living, as Defence Secretary, in the splendour of Admiralty House, the Prime Minister loftily replied that he had more important issues to concentrate on.
Can he really have failed fully to grasp the way in which the deeply unedifying behaviour of so many MPs is corroding faith in the entire political process?
Ordinary people think, understandably, that they're all 'at it'. At this rate, MPs will soon lose the public's trust for good.
The painful truth
After the hubristic euphoria of the G20 summit, Mr Darling brought Britain back to reality with a thud, admitting he had got it 'wrong' by promising the recession would be short and sharp.
When the Chancellor's autumn pre-Budget statement included the extraordinarily optimistic forecast that the economy would begin to recover this year, the Mail dubbed him the 'man with the rose-tinted spectacles'. We take no pleasure in the fact it has taken him fully six months publicly to acknowledge the folly of his predictions.
But doesn't this new-found honesty smack of a cynical softening-up exercise, ahead of this month's Budget?
With the bill for unemployment benefits soaring and government income rapidly decreasing (not least because of the pointlessly ineffective £12billion reduction in VAT), tax rises look inevitable.
It is time for Mr Darling to make clear just how painful these tax rises - and the cuts to the public sector that are surely essential - will be.
Gravy train...part II
Of course, it is not just MPs growing fat courtesy of the taxpayer. Today, a report by the TaxPayers' Alliance reveals that an astonishing 1,022 town-hall bureaucrats were paid in excess of £100,000 as Britain slid towards recession last year.
With the public finances sinking ever deeper into debt, paying 16 of this inglorious brood more than the Prime Minister's annual salary of £194,250 is simply unsustainable. Mr Darling's spending cuts should begin here.
Print this article Read later Email to a friend
Only last week, commenting on the disclosures about the embarrassing revelations around the UK Interior Minister [‘Home Secretary’] Jacqui Smith’s domestic life [!!!], we had said the following [see item below this updater introduction]. We also said that even worse facts might appear... They have done... Geoff Hoon, the Crossrail scam-peddling Big Business frontman at the UK Department for Transport [=DfT] has not only been exposed as having behaved with additional embarrassment.. he has shown that he lacks any sense of decency.. Had he possessed a sense of decency then he would not have said what he has been saying according to reports as published all day today [Sunday 5 April 200].. He has been reported as saying that he has done anything wrong.. What more wrong things does a Big Business-peddling Minister have to do before the wrong become a wrong too far? [To be continued] WHAT KHOODEELAAR! had said last week: 0225 Hrs GMT London Monday 30 March 2009: KHOODEELAAR! evidential notes on the culture of unaccountability in the UK Parliament. As we have been arguing for over 5 years, the UK Executive is liable to go off the rails. The rails and the tracks of normality. Of constitutionality. Of decency and decorum as demanded by adherence to democratic accountability.. What has Jacqui Smith’s location this week at the centre of this deeply humiliating personal embarrassment to the role she played and her fellow Blairing MPs played in giving the nod and the yes to the Big Business Crossrail hole scam Bill? What rigours would have spared Jacqui Smith this experience? We say a lot. Had there been a robust, rigorous and ethically active Parliament, most of the personal acts of embarrassment, would not have occurred. But as the UK Parliament is a propaganda place, there to promote the agenda being touted via the Executive, we have these spectacles.…. Accidentally exposed MPS and ministers found with their snouts in the trough or EVEN worse.. [To be continued]
From the MAIL ON SUNDAY website:
MAIL COMMENT: How MPs' gravy train railroads public trust
Last updated at 11:09 PM on 05th April 2009
Comments (0)
Add to My Stories
Geoff Hoon and Alistair Darling claiming fortunes in second-home allowances while living in grace-and-favour residences... Jacqui Smith billing the taxpayer £104 for a patio heater and £2.50 for a toothbrush holder...married MPs Peter and Iris Robinson pocketing £571,939 a year in salaries and expenses...Labour's Kevin Brennan charging £10,200 stamp duty to the public purse...
And these are just the revelations of one weekend. Truly, our MPs could not have their snouts any deeper in the trough.
Worse, it emerges that, unlike any 'benefit in kind' paid to the rest of us by an employer, MPs do not have to pay tax on their obscene perks. The reason? An exemption passed in 2003 by - you guessed it - the MPs themselves.
Geoff Hoon claimed fortunes in second-home allowances
Of course, all those accused yesterday deny any wrongdoing, saying they cleared their sleazy antics in advance with the Parliamentary Fees Office. But the Fees Office is merely administering a lax rule book of the MPs' own creation.
Nor is there much chance of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, John Lyon, holding them to account, should anybody protest about their conduct. This £108,000-a-year toothless tiger has resolved only one of the 113 complaints he has received so far, with most dismissed summarily.
David Cameron is at least showing signs of recognising the gravy train must be halted, pledging that no Conservative Cabinet minister with a grace-and-favour flat will claim a second-home allowance.
More from Daily Mail Comment...
MAIL COMMENT: Pay up, Mr Ross!03/04/09
MAIL COMMENT: A protest for privacy03/04/09
MAIL COMMENT: A day on, the G20 deal loses its shine03/04/09
MAIL COMMENT: G20 produces an almost historic compromise... 03/04/09
MAIL COMMENT: Amid the razzmatazz, there's work to do 02/04/09
MAIL COMMENT: What shocks Auntie? It's not expenses, but the mole at the Commons31/03/09
MAIL COMMENT: A story of two nations... the private employee and the public sector worker31/03/09
MAIL COMMENT: Learning the lessons of this shameful war31/03/09
VIEW FULL ARCHIVE
But what of Gordon Brown? When asked about the news Mr Hoon had pocketed £70,000 in second-home allowances while living, as Defence Secretary, in the splendour of Admiralty House, the Prime Minister loftily replied that he had more important issues to concentrate on.
Can he really have failed fully to grasp the way in which the deeply unedifying behaviour of so many MPs is corroding faith in the entire political process?
Ordinary people think, understandably, that they're all 'at it'. At this rate, MPs will soon lose the public's trust for good.
The painful truth
After the hubristic euphoria of the G20 summit, Mr Darling brought Britain back to reality with a thud, admitting he had got it 'wrong' by promising the recession would be short and sharp.
When the Chancellor's autumn pre-Budget statement included the extraordinarily optimistic forecast that the economy would begin to recover this year, the Mail dubbed him the 'man with the rose-tinted spectacles'. We take no pleasure in the fact it has taken him fully six months publicly to acknowledge the folly of his predictions.
But doesn't this new-found honesty smack of a cynical softening-up exercise, ahead of this month's Budget?
With the bill for unemployment benefits soaring and government income rapidly decreasing (not least because of the pointlessly ineffective £12billion reduction in VAT), tax rises look inevitable.
It is time for Mr Darling to make clear just how painful these tax rises - and the cuts to the public sector that are surely essential - will be.
Gravy train...part II
Of course, it is not just MPs growing fat courtesy of the taxpayer. Today, a report by the TaxPayers' Alliance reveals that an astonishing 1,022 town-hall bureaucrats were paid in excess of £100,000 as Britain slid towards recession last year.
With the public finances sinking ever deeper into debt, paying 16 of this inglorious brood more than the Prime Minister's annual salary of £194,250 is simply unsustainable. Mr Darling's spending cuts should begin here.
Print this article Read later Email to a friend
KHOODEELAAR! TOLD YOU SO! that Big Business agenda-scam Crossrail-peddler G Hoon was behaving below standard
0100 Hrs GMT London Sunday 5 April 2009:
KHOODEELAAR! TOLD YOU SO! that Big Business agenda-scam Crossrail-peddler G Hoon was behaving below standard
[To be continued]
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1167145/Three-homes-Hoon-Iraq-war-Minister-claimed-expenses-home-rented-second---lived-free.html
Three homes Hoon: Iraq war Minister claimed expenses on one home, rented out second ... and lived in third for free
By GLEN OWEN and SIMON WALTERS
Last updated at 1:51 AM on 05th April 2009
Comments (0)
Add to My Stories
STOP THE MPs' GRAVY TRAIN ...
SCROLL DOWN TO SIGN THE MAIL ON SUNDAY'S PETITION
Three homes: But Geoff Hoon insists he did nothing wrong, telling the MoS, 'I only claimed whatever the rules allowed for'
The Cabinet Minister who sent Britain's Armed Forces into the Iraq war claimed expenses on his constituency house and rented out his London home - while living throughout the conflict in a palatial grace-and-favour apartment in Whitehall.
Former Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon, now Transport Secretary in Gordon Brown's Government, lived rent-free for three-and-a-half years in Admiralty House, London, once occupied by Winston Churchill.
He used the opportunity to earn money from the London house he had declared to the Commons authorities as his 'main home' by renting it to a private tenant via a commercial lettings agency.
At the same time he claimed more than £70,000 in a 'second-home allowance' on his home in Derby, close to his constituency of Ashfield, Nottinghamshire.
In effect, it meant that during the war, and for three years afterwards, Mr Hoon had one home absolutely free, a second one covered by Commons expenses, and a third one which had initially been funded by expenses, paid for by rent.
And when he gave up his grace-and-favour apartment, he bought a new £635,000 London home and changed his 'main home' declaration which meant he could use his second-home allowance to help pay for it - and provide a home for his adult son.
Mr Hoon insists he has done absolutely nothing wrong and maintains everything was approved by the Commons authorities.
But the revelations come amid a series of important developments in the growing controversy over MPs' expenses:
David Cameron announced he would give up his £24,000-a-year second-home allowance if he moves in to 10 Downing Street.
MPs gave themselves a special exemption to avoid paying tax on their generous perks.
The Mail on Sunday received overwhelming support for its campaign for new measures to crack down on MPs' expenses.
Labour MP Harry Cohen, who claimed £310,000 in second-home allowances, faces a possible criminal investigation.
The man leading a new probe into MPs' pay and expenses has banned politicians from the inquiry team - because they cannot be trusted.
The disclosures concerning Mr Hoon's lavish housing perks follow public uproar over the way that Home Secretary Jacqui Smith and Employment Minister Tony McNulty exploited the Commons second-home allowance.
Railwayman's son Mr Hoon and his wife Elaine have amassed a property portfolio worth £1.7million, made up of three homes in Derby, London and the fashionable Suffolk coastal town of Walberswick.
Derby: Bought in 1986 for £125,000, it is worth an estimated £640,000 today. Listed as Hoon's 'main home' 1992-1997, his 'second home' 1997-2006, and his 'main home' again from 2006 to present. Expenses claimed 2001-2006: £90,000 (figures unavailable for 1992-7)
They bought their Derby home in 1986 for an estimated £125,000. Land Registry records show that the Hoons had a mortgage with the Nottingham Building Society.
The year before Mr Hoon became an MP in 1992, he bought a London home in Courtenay Street, Lambeth, for an estimated £150,000.
Initially, he declared his Derby home as his 'main home' and claimed the Additional Costs Allowance (ACA) on his London home.
More...
Ordinary citizens are taxed through the nose but do MPs pay tax on their second homes? Of course not
DAVID CAMERON: If the State provides a grace-and-favour home, a Minister should NOT claim a second home allowance
MP facing inquiry after anti-fraud law allegation
Shamed Jacqui Smith also claimed expenses for household goods including a barbecue
When he became a Minister in 1997, he changed his 'main home' to his London property, in accordance with ministerial rules at the time. From then until 2006, he claimed ACA on his Derby home.
However, his housing arrangements changed radically in 2002 when, months before the outbreak of the Iraq war, he moved out of his Courtenay Street house and into Admiralty House, an 18th Century building containing three flats then valued at a total of £60million.
In 2002 the estimated rental value of Mr Hoon's Admiralty House apartment was £100,000 a year.
It was a privilege granted only to Prime Minister Tony Blair's most trusted Ministers; Mr Hoon's fellow tenants of Admiralty House were John Prescott and Margaret Beckett.
It meant he was less than 100 yards from the Ministry of Defence, from where he directed the Iraq war operations. Mr Hoon said he moved in to Admiralty House for security reasons.
But it also meant his Courtenay Street house was now lying empty. So Mr Hoon decided to rent it out, which he did using a professional agent.
London 1: Bought 1991 for £150,000, estimated annual market rent £18,200, sold 2006 for £475,000 at a profit of £325,000. 'Second home' 1992-1997. Figures are not available for expenses claimed
At the same time, he continued to claim the ACA on his Derby home. Between 2001 and 2006 he claimed £90,000. Of this, approximately £50,000 was claimed while he was living rent-free in Admiralty House.
For two of the three years he was there, he was among the handful of MPs who claimed the maximum ACA.
Former barrister Mr Hoon declined to say how much rent he earned from Courtenay Street. But experts say the market rate would have been approximately £350 a week - £18,200 a year.
If the house were rented out at that price for three-and-a-half years, it would have earned Mr Hoon about £64,000 before tax.
In June 2006, the Iraq war long over, he moved out of Admiralty House. But upwardly-mobile Mr Hoon did not go back to Courtenay Street - he was looking to upgrade.
He sold the Courtenay Street house in August 2006 for £475,000, an estimated profit of £325,000. Between 2002 and 2006, Mr Hoon received a double boost from soaring house prices in London and the rental income on the property.
Mr and Mrs Hoon used the funds to buy an impressive three-storey home in a tranquil square a stone's throw from Parliament for £635,000.
But it is clear that as well as moving home, the Hoons conducted a major overhaul of their housing finances. Two months later, Land Registry records show they cleared the mortgage on their Derby home.
Walberswick: Bought by Hoon's wife in 1998 for £200,000, estimated value now £400,000
And it was at this point that the Minister informed the Commons Fees Office that from now on, his 'main home' was his Derby home.
By doing this, he was able to claim ACA on his expensive new £635,000 London town house. Under Commons rules, most of the ACA is taken up by mortgage interest.
The Hoons are thought to have had a mortgage of less than £70,000 on their Derby home.
Mr Hoon says he changed his 'main home' from London to Derby because the ban on Ministers declaring their constituency home to be their main home had been ended.
In fact, he could have changed his 'main home' declaration in February 2004 when the rule change took place, two-and-a-half years before he did so.
Since clearing the mortgage on his Derby home in 2006, Mr Hoon has claimed an estimated £32,000 in ACA on his new London home up to March 2008, the latest date for which figures are available. Between 2002 and 2008, Mr Hoon claimed a total of £120,000 in ACA.
In addition, in 1998 his wife Elaine paid an estimated £200,000 for a holiday house in Walberswick, Suffolk, where the couple spend summer holidays. The property is now worth about £400,000. The house is registered solely in her name.
London 2: Bought 2006 for £635,000, estimated current value £650,000. 'Second home' 2006-2009. Expenses claimed 2006-2008: £32,000 (figures unavailable for 2008-9)
Walberswick is home to celebrities such as Richard Curtis and his wife Emma Freud, leading some to call it Chelsea on Sea.
Mr Hoon is a regular at the annual celebrity packed summer fete, opened last year by comedian and naturalist Bill Oddie. Gordon Brown holidayed nearby.
Mr Hoon yesterday insisted he had done nothing wrong.
'I only claimed whatever the rules allowed for. I assure you I had it properly checked out,' he told The Mail on Sunday. 'The [Commons] Fees Office was aware of what was happening.
'Indeed, I was told it was perfectly normal. I went into Admiralty House on security advice. I was told unless I went into secure premises I would have to have round-the-clock police protection at my home in London and that that would cost the taxpayer a great deal more.'
Asked if it was 'moral' to carry on claiming a second-home allowance while he had a grace-and-favour home, he said: 'I wasn't the first person who for security reasons was required to live in Government accommodation, and I assume I won't be the last.'
Asked whether he was making a profit at the same time by renting out his London home, he replied: 'It doesn't necessarily mean I was making a profit. That is not a fair interpretation and I do not accept that.'
Admiralty House: Grace-and-favour residence 2002-6. Estimated annual market rent £100,000. Cost to Hoon: nil
Mr Hoon said that when he first became an MP he declared his Derby home to be his 'main home', but once he became a Minister in 1997 the rules meant he had to declare his London home as his 'main home'.
Explaining why he changed his 'main home' declaration back to his Derby home in 2006, he said it was because the rule which compelled Ministers to declare their London home as their 'main home' had been scrapped.
He added: 'I felt that my main home, and I still feel this, is in Derbyshire where my wife lives, where my children reside.'
When it was pointed out that his adult son is on the electoral register for his London home, Mr Hoon said: 'I have two other children. My son recently moved to London having graduated from university. I don't think it's particularly surprising that he would live there.'
When The Mail on Sunday suggested that it appeared he had made a considerable sum by 'manipulating the system', he replied: 'I don't accept that for a moment.'
Commons expenses rules say an MP's main home is 'normally the one where he or she spends more nights than any other'.
It adds that where there is any doubt, the MP's choice of 'main home' should 'result in a smaller ACA claim than if they designated the other property'.
And it warns: 'Members must avoid any arrangement which may give rise to an accusation that you are, or someone close to you is, obtaining an immediate benefit or subsidy from public funds.’
Stop the Expenses Gravy Train
I, the undersigned demand a full enquiry into MPs' expenses, to report within 3 months and NOT after the general election as is currently suggested. There should then be fair and clear rules which must be enforced rigorously with proper sanctions for those who break them.
Name:
Email:
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of Address:
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Comment:
KHOODEELAAR! TOLD YOU SO! that Big Business agenda-scam Crossrail-peddler G Hoon was behaving below standard
[To be continued]
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1167145/Three-homes-Hoon-Iraq-war-Minister-claimed-expenses-home-rented-second---lived-free.html
Three homes Hoon: Iraq war Minister claimed expenses on one home, rented out second ... and lived in third for free
By GLEN OWEN and SIMON WALTERS
Last updated at 1:51 AM on 05th April 2009
Comments (0)
Add to My Stories
STOP THE MPs' GRAVY TRAIN ...
SCROLL DOWN TO SIGN THE MAIL ON SUNDAY'S PETITION
Three homes: But Geoff Hoon insists he did nothing wrong, telling the MoS, 'I only claimed whatever the rules allowed for'
The Cabinet Minister who sent Britain's Armed Forces into the Iraq war claimed expenses on his constituency house and rented out his London home - while living throughout the conflict in a palatial grace-and-favour apartment in Whitehall.
Former Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon, now Transport Secretary in Gordon Brown's Government, lived rent-free for three-and-a-half years in Admiralty House, London, once occupied by Winston Churchill.
He used the opportunity to earn money from the London house he had declared to the Commons authorities as his 'main home' by renting it to a private tenant via a commercial lettings agency.
At the same time he claimed more than £70,000 in a 'second-home allowance' on his home in Derby, close to his constituency of Ashfield, Nottinghamshire.
In effect, it meant that during the war, and for three years afterwards, Mr Hoon had one home absolutely free, a second one covered by Commons expenses, and a third one which had initially been funded by expenses, paid for by rent.
And when he gave up his grace-and-favour apartment, he bought a new £635,000 London home and changed his 'main home' declaration which meant he could use his second-home allowance to help pay for it - and provide a home for his adult son.
Mr Hoon insists he has done absolutely nothing wrong and maintains everything was approved by the Commons authorities.
But the revelations come amid a series of important developments in the growing controversy over MPs' expenses:
David Cameron announced he would give up his £24,000-a-year second-home allowance if he moves in to 10 Downing Street.
MPs gave themselves a special exemption to avoid paying tax on their generous perks.
The Mail on Sunday received overwhelming support for its campaign for new measures to crack down on MPs' expenses.
Labour MP Harry Cohen, who claimed £310,000 in second-home allowances, faces a possible criminal investigation.
The man leading a new probe into MPs' pay and expenses has banned politicians from the inquiry team - because they cannot be trusted.
The disclosures concerning Mr Hoon's lavish housing perks follow public uproar over the way that Home Secretary Jacqui Smith and Employment Minister Tony McNulty exploited the Commons second-home allowance.
Railwayman's son Mr Hoon and his wife Elaine have amassed a property portfolio worth £1.7million, made up of three homes in Derby, London and the fashionable Suffolk coastal town of Walberswick.
Derby: Bought in 1986 for £125,000, it is worth an estimated £640,000 today. Listed as Hoon's 'main home' 1992-1997, his 'second home' 1997-2006, and his 'main home' again from 2006 to present. Expenses claimed 2001-2006: £90,000 (figures unavailable for 1992-7)
They bought their Derby home in 1986 for an estimated £125,000. Land Registry records show that the Hoons had a mortgage with the Nottingham Building Society.
The year before Mr Hoon became an MP in 1992, he bought a London home in Courtenay Street, Lambeth, for an estimated £150,000.
Initially, he declared his Derby home as his 'main home' and claimed the Additional Costs Allowance (ACA) on his London home.
More...
Ordinary citizens are taxed through the nose but do MPs pay tax on their second homes? Of course not
DAVID CAMERON: If the State provides a grace-and-favour home, a Minister should NOT claim a second home allowance
MP facing inquiry after anti-fraud law allegation
Shamed Jacqui Smith also claimed expenses for household goods including a barbecue
When he became a Minister in 1997, he changed his 'main home' to his London property, in accordance with ministerial rules at the time. From then until 2006, he claimed ACA on his Derby home.
However, his housing arrangements changed radically in 2002 when, months before the outbreak of the Iraq war, he moved out of his Courtenay Street house and into Admiralty House, an 18th Century building containing three flats then valued at a total of £60million.
In 2002 the estimated rental value of Mr Hoon's Admiralty House apartment was £100,000 a year.
It was a privilege granted only to Prime Minister Tony Blair's most trusted Ministers; Mr Hoon's fellow tenants of Admiralty House were John Prescott and Margaret Beckett.
It meant he was less than 100 yards from the Ministry of Defence, from where he directed the Iraq war operations. Mr Hoon said he moved in to Admiralty House for security reasons.
But it also meant his Courtenay Street house was now lying empty. So Mr Hoon decided to rent it out, which he did using a professional agent.
London 1: Bought 1991 for £150,000, estimated annual market rent £18,200, sold 2006 for £475,000 at a profit of £325,000. 'Second home' 1992-1997. Figures are not available for expenses claimed
At the same time, he continued to claim the ACA on his Derby home. Between 2001 and 2006 he claimed £90,000. Of this, approximately £50,000 was claimed while he was living rent-free in Admiralty House.
For two of the three years he was there, he was among the handful of MPs who claimed the maximum ACA.
Former barrister Mr Hoon declined to say how much rent he earned from Courtenay Street. But experts say the market rate would have been approximately £350 a week - £18,200 a year.
If the house were rented out at that price for three-and-a-half years, it would have earned Mr Hoon about £64,000 before tax.
In June 2006, the Iraq war long over, he moved out of Admiralty House. But upwardly-mobile Mr Hoon did not go back to Courtenay Street - he was looking to upgrade.
He sold the Courtenay Street house in August 2006 for £475,000, an estimated profit of £325,000. Between 2002 and 2006, Mr Hoon received a double boost from soaring house prices in London and the rental income on the property.
Mr and Mrs Hoon used the funds to buy an impressive three-storey home in a tranquil square a stone's throw from Parliament for £635,000.
But it is clear that as well as moving home, the Hoons conducted a major overhaul of their housing finances. Two months later, Land Registry records show they cleared the mortgage on their Derby home.
Walberswick: Bought by Hoon's wife in 1998 for £200,000, estimated value now £400,000
And it was at this point that the Minister informed the Commons Fees Office that from now on, his 'main home' was his Derby home.
By doing this, he was able to claim ACA on his expensive new £635,000 London town house. Under Commons rules, most of the ACA is taken up by mortgage interest.
The Hoons are thought to have had a mortgage of less than £70,000 on their Derby home.
Mr Hoon says he changed his 'main home' from London to Derby because the ban on Ministers declaring their constituency home to be their main home had been ended.
In fact, he could have changed his 'main home' declaration in February 2004 when the rule change took place, two-and-a-half years before he did so.
Since clearing the mortgage on his Derby home in 2006, Mr Hoon has claimed an estimated £32,000 in ACA on his new London home up to March 2008, the latest date for which figures are available. Between 2002 and 2008, Mr Hoon claimed a total of £120,000 in ACA.
In addition, in 1998 his wife Elaine paid an estimated £200,000 for a holiday house in Walberswick, Suffolk, where the couple spend summer holidays. The property is now worth about £400,000. The house is registered solely in her name.
London 2: Bought 2006 for £635,000, estimated current value £650,000. 'Second home' 2006-2009. Expenses claimed 2006-2008: £32,000 (figures unavailable for 2008-9)
Walberswick is home to celebrities such as Richard Curtis and his wife Emma Freud, leading some to call it Chelsea on Sea.
Mr Hoon is a regular at the annual celebrity packed summer fete, opened last year by comedian and naturalist Bill Oddie. Gordon Brown holidayed nearby.
Mr Hoon yesterday insisted he had done nothing wrong.
'I only claimed whatever the rules allowed for. I assure you I had it properly checked out,' he told The Mail on Sunday. 'The [Commons] Fees Office was aware of what was happening.
'Indeed, I was told it was perfectly normal. I went into Admiralty House on security advice. I was told unless I went into secure premises I would have to have round-the-clock police protection at my home in London and that that would cost the taxpayer a great deal more.'
Asked if it was 'moral' to carry on claiming a second-home allowance while he had a grace-and-favour home, he said: 'I wasn't the first person who for security reasons was required to live in Government accommodation, and I assume I won't be the last.'
Asked whether he was making a profit at the same time by renting out his London home, he replied: 'It doesn't necessarily mean I was making a profit. That is not a fair interpretation and I do not accept that.'
Admiralty House: Grace-and-favour residence 2002-6. Estimated annual market rent £100,000. Cost to Hoon: nil
Mr Hoon said that when he first became an MP he declared his Derby home to be his 'main home', but once he became a Minister in 1997 the rules meant he had to declare his London home as his 'main home'.
Explaining why he changed his 'main home' declaration back to his Derby home in 2006, he said it was because the rule which compelled Ministers to declare their London home as their 'main home' had been scrapped.
He added: 'I felt that my main home, and I still feel this, is in Derbyshire where my wife lives, where my children reside.'
When it was pointed out that his adult son is on the electoral register for his London home, Mr Hoon said: 'I have two other children. My son recently moved to London having graduated from university. I don't think it's particularly surprising that he would live there.'
When The Mail on Sunday suggested that it appeared he had made a considerable sum by 'manipulating the system', he replied: 'I don't accept that for a moment.'
Commons expenses rules say an MP's main home is 'normally the one where he or she spends more nights than any other'.
It adds that where there is any doubt, the MP's choice of 'main home' should 'result in a smaller ACA claim than if they designated the other property'.
And it warns: 'Members must avoid any arrangement which may give rise to an accusation that you are, or someone close to you is, obtaining an immediate benefit or subsidy from public funds.’
Stop the Expenses Gravy Train
I, the undersigned demand a full enquiry into MPs' expenses, to report within 3 months and NOT after the general election as is currently suggested. There should then be fair and clear rules which must be enforced rigorously with proper sanctions for those who break them.
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KHOODEELAAR! Evidential notes in memory of campaign supporter against Crossrail hole scam: Daniel 'Dennis' Flood
2345 Hrs GMT London Saturday 4 April 2009: KHOODEELAAR! No to “Big Business agenda CrossRail scam”. CAMPAIGN was represented at a community event in memory of East London campaigner Daniel Dennis’ Flood, held earlier today at the Cranbrook estate community centre off the Roman Road in Bethnal Green today [Saturday 4 April 2009].
‘Dennis’ as Daniel had become known to the majority, who spoke, was described as a selfless, caring and very principled human being. Daniel possessed a unique sense of humour that at times was so brutal as to leave some of his ‘targets’ almost speechless. Everyone who spoke of him had at least one incident of Daniel’s life that showed what a uniquely valuable role he played in defence of others.
He played key parts especially in the past few years of intense battles against the destruction of public ownership of housing in the East End of London.
Many in the East End of London enjoying their housing and homes would not be doing so had it not been for the selfless dedication in defence of their housing and human rights by Daniel Flood.
This was how Kevin Ovenden remembered the many contributions that Dennis Flood had made.
Another, Daniel’s close campaigning partner and friend Carole Swords, recalled how he had physically exposed the deep ignorance and callousness of some of the holders of positions on the ‘local’ Tower Hamlets Council.
Carole Swords gave a graphic description of how Daniel had brought justifiable ridicule upon one particular Tower Hamlets Council agent of the programme of destruction of Council housing. Another close friend who like Carole Swords, had worked hard to defend Council housing alongside ‘Dennis’, was Paola Cottage.
She too gave entertaining accounts of how Dennis had caused a few of the perpetrators of attacks on Council housing really tough times.
Khoodeelaar! campaign organiser Muhammad Haque agreed with the other speakers, saying that Daniel ‘Dennis’ epitomised the anti-dote and human excellence against the depravity and the deprivation of the agenda being pursued by the likes of the Tower Hamlets Councillors who had been perversely boasting of the area as the most deprived borough in the country.
Rob Hoveman who worked with Daniel on many actions against the Tower Hamlets Council controlling group shared the view that Dennis was not a hypocrite and spoke truthfully.
He also spoke of Dennis taking significant risks in order to protect colleagues from unwelcome attention or even attacks. Cyril Furby described Dennis as a practical man with no time for pretentiousness.
Campaigners against Housing privatisation who successfully fended off Tower Hamlets Council’s attacks on Council housing in the Collingwood estate spoke warmly of the role that Dennis Flood had played in that battle..
[To be continued]
‘Dennis’ as Daniel had become known to the majority, who spoke, was described as a selfless, caring and very principled human being. Daniel possessed a unique sense of humour that at times was so brutal as to leave some of his ‘targets’ almost speechless. Everyone who spoke of him had at least one incident of Daniel’s life that showed what a uniquely valuable role he played in defence of others.
He played key parts especially in the past few years of intense battles against the destruction of public ownership of housing in the East End of London.
Many in the East End of London enjoying their housing and homes would not be doing so had it not been for the selfless dedication in defence of their housing and human rights by Daniel Flood.
This was how Kevin Ovenden remembered the many contributions that Dennis Flood had made.
Another, Daniel’s close campaigning partner and friend Carole Swords, recalled how he had physically exposed the deep ignorance and callousness of some of the holders of positions on the ‘local’ Tower Hamlets Council.
Carole Swords gave a graphic description of how Daniel had brought justifiable ridicule upon one particular Tower Hamlets Council agent of the programme of destruction of Council housing. Another close friend who like Carole Swords, had worked hard to defend Council housing alongside ‘Dennis’, was Paola Cottage.
She too gave entertaining accounts of how Dennis had caused a few of the perpetrators of attacks on Council housing really tough times.
Khoodeelaar! campaign organiser Muhammad Haque agreed with the other speakers, saying that Daniel ‘Dennis’ epitomised the anti-dote and human excellence against the depravity and the deprivation of the agenda being pursued by the likes of the Tower Hamlets Councillors who had been perversely boasting of the area as the most deprived borough in the country.
Rob Hoveman who worked with Daniel on many actions against the Tower Hamlets Council controlling group shared the view that Dennis was not a hypocrite and spoke truthfully.
He also spoke of Dennis taking significant risks in order to protect colleagues from unwelcome attention or even attacks. Cyril Furby described Dennis as a practical man with no time for pretentiousness.
Campaigners against Housing privatisation who successfully fended off Tower Hamlets Council’s attacks on Council housing in the Collingwood estate spoke warmly of the role that Dennis Flood had played in that battle..
[To be continued]