David Laws resigns after taxpayers’ money was use to pay rent to boyfriend.

[mrmod]

DAVID LAWS resigned his cabinet post last night after revelations that he used taxpayers’ money to pay rent to his boyfriend.

The Liberal Democrat chief secretary to the Treasury stepped down after a day of agonising over his future. He has been replaced by Danny Alexander, the Lib Dem Scottish secretary.

Laws said in his resignation letter to David Cameron, the prime minister: “I do not see how I can carry on my crucial work on the budget and spending review while I have to deal with the private and public implications of recent revelations.”

Laws’s departure from one of the most important roles in the government, 17 days after his appointment, plunged the coalition into crisis. The 44-year-old former investment banker had been regarded as one of the stars of the coalition and was spearheading the programme to reduce the deficit.

However, it was disclosed on Friday that he had claimed £40,000 to rent accommodation from his boyfriend, James Lundie, a clear breach of Commons rules on expenses.

Nick Clegg, the deputy prime minister, abandoned a weekend break in Paris with his wife yesterday to return to London for crisis talks.

In a statement Laws said: “The chancellor needs a chief secretary who is not distracted by personal troubles. I hardly need say how much I regret having to leave such vital work, which I feel all my life has prepared me for.”

He admitted he had often put his “sense of public duty” before “the interests of those I love most”. He added: “It is time to redress the balance.”

Cameron accepted his resignation “with sadness”, describing Laws as a “good and honourable man”, and told him he hoped he would return to office “in time”. In a sympathetic statement Clegg also suggested Laws would return to the cabinet when the issues over his expenses had been resolved. “He has so much to contribute to national life,” the Lib Dem leader said.

He backed Laws’s claim that the secrecy over his domestic and financial arrangements was motivated by the desire to “keep his private life private”.

“This privacy has been cruelly shattered. I hope that David and all those people close to him will now be granted the privacy he has always craved,” Clegg said.

Laws’s resignation represents an extraordinarily rapid political rise and fall. Last week he earned plaudits for his contribution to the Queen’s speech debate. He has a double first from Cambridge and was a leading member of the Lib Dem negotiating team during the coalition talks.

Source

The thing that most annoys me about this is that these are meant to be people who are trying to cut public spending, but they use it more than anyone else .

From the article:

Though Laws initially said he did not believe he had broken Commons rules, in his statement last night he said he accepted his expenses claims were wrong. He apologised to his constituents for “falling below the standards” they were entitled to expect. A millionaire, he has agreed to repay the £40,000.

I mean, doesn't this get to you as well? He uses taxpayers' money under false pretences even when he can afford it.

The higher class in the UK has been stained very badly indeed. We had the Duchess and now this. It seems to me they're all doing it for the money.

What do you think about it? Do you reckon he had to resign?

[DUBLIN5]

yep and he's gay

[srijantje]

yes,it's a crime,if any of us would do it we would go to jail,fat chance that he'll do any time though

[billy]

agree with him being charged. he's a thief.

i larfed at this ;

Cameron accepted his resignation “with sadness”, describing Laws as a “good and honourable man”,

[srijantje]

and that's supposed to be a prime minister,calling a thief a good and HONORABLE man.where o where o lord will it stop?

[billy]

to do anything else but say he forgot would make cameron look like the twat he is lmao. i was hoping to see a better exchange rate for my pound but it's not happening yet

[mrmod]

All MPs were at it, but it proved to be less of a scandal than I thought of .

[mrmod]

I didn't say it was not a big one. I said I thought it would be bigger. For something this big they should have faced larger penalties.

[mrmod]

The British political elite is naturally cautious about pressing criminal fraud charges against large numbers of their own members.
After all, they were all doing it.

True. But it's the country as a whole that suffers in the end .

[srijantje]

i don't think politicians in general give a toss about that,seeing their behaviour

[billy]

all they really care about is what they can get out of it, apart from a few genuine people who want change. for some reason they seem to think no one will find out what they do lmao.