An update now available as new facts have come to light

I am no special fan of the political representatives of Thanet but even I feel I should offer a word of congratulations to our local MP Stephen Ladyman. Whatever else you might want to say about him (and a good number of negative things spring to mind such as his strong support for ID cards) I had a great deal of admiration for his altruism and transparency in publishing his commons expenses for all to see. However, I was soon massively disappointed in the truth of the mater.

All of the information was already in the public domain but he has taken the step of "publishing the information on his website" (here). I should point out that the "table of expenses" is the only data he has actually (re)published (rather than just linked to) and it can be found at They Work For You (dot com). The fact that the table of expenses on theyworkforyou.com is better formatted notwithstanding I, for one, want to applaud the action but call for him to go one further and provide the details and breakdown in his own words. Specifically I would like to know if he maintains a second home and what he spent on it.

Keep reading to discover how this makes it as little more than a footnote in the current debate over listing of MP expenses as it does not provide the information that the public have been asking for.

From how the Kent Online website reported the news (not to mention the way the KM group have been singing his praises) one would have thought that Mr Ladyman had published something previousely hidden. The truth however is that this was not suppressed data but publicly available information.

My Ladyman is quoted by Kent Online as saying "We need to do more to be open about what we claim and why if we are to restore confidence in the House of Commons." Which is nice and he gives every appearance of doing it without actually doing it. Transparency generally means having little or nothing hidden and this is something our local political types and newspapers would do well to remember.

On his website Stephen Ladyman links to a parliamentary PDF of all MP expenses, a parliamentary PDF of rules for MP claims and the amounts that MPs can claim this year. So already a lot of the data people have been asking for is available but the controversial information - the exact listing of what the money was spent on - is not available. Of local interest especially he also links to his entry in the "register of members interests" (where no doubt a certain blogger will be upset to discover that he employs his wife just like Mr Gale does).

This is a smart move politically as Mr Ladyman appears to be giving the people what they want. Yet the debate was never over publication of expenses but over the publication of the break down of spends on maintaining a second home (in London). That data is still missing!

Just by mentioning House of Commons Speaker Michael Martin £100,000 spend on a High Court action to block the publication of MPs’ second homes allowance in the same article as the republishing of known information does not give it some "moral superiority by association". Have Kent Online grown so lazy as to not even double check a political press release? I, too, was ready to praise Ladyman unconditionally until a cursory basic check of facts showed up the truth and I've not even had breakfast yet.

It seems that this Thanet MP has seen that Labour are not going to have an easy win this coming election and is trying to work himself a clean reputation prior to the regularly scheduled mud flinging we call a general election. So Mr Ladyman - well done on telling us what we already know but now please tell us what we want to know - what did MPs spend the money on for their London homes?

An update now available as new facts have come to light