Monday 9 April 2012

Tax transparency is for others not politicians

If you missed Mr Farage's weasel word performance last Friday  on Any Questions you can pick it up off the BBC website but if you click on link you can listen to Mr Farage elaborating on his excuses for not publishing his tax details. In the City its called talking your book. 


We have been here before with Mr Farage. On the question of publication of his MEP expenses he claimed on TV that his expenses were published on the web. I could never find them. I asked for any one who could find them to let me know the URL. I received no replies but my request still stands.

Then of course there is the question of Mr Farage employing his wife on EU funds something that following the MP expenses scandal all serious politicians gave up as improper.


What was sick making was Mr Farage's claims that Labour and Tory parliamentarians were largely juvenile political careerists making money out of politics. Mr Farage has made a great deal of money from the EU so why should others not be able to do likewise?


Mr Farage claims he could make more money in the City than he does as an MEP. He says he worked in the City before becoming an MEP.  I would be grateful if any one could tell me who he worked for in the City.


It was good to hear the Exeter MP, Ben Bradshaw, flatly contradict Mr Farage's claim that school headmasters could not get rid of poor teachers as completely untrue. Mr Farage's claimed  'source' was 'a friend of his who was a headmaster'. Who is this headmaster? What school is he head of? It all sounds a bit like ' a bloke in the pub told me'. Its not even anecdotal!


I hope to see and hear more challenging of Mr Farage's assertions. For too long they have gone unchallenged by political opponents and incompetent journalists. We are entitled to transparency in this as well as politicians tax and income. 



3 comments:

Junius said...

And let us not forget that Farage was the only South East MEP not to publish his expenses. A Kent newspaper recently confronted him over this. Farage claimed to have 'lost' the receipts. How convenient!

But at least the press are now taking an interest in this shady MEP.

Junius said...

Read about it here:

http://juniusonukip.blogspot.com/2012/03/ukip-nigel-farage-fails-to-publish-his.html

Eric Edmond said...

Good point Junius! I wonder what the tax man says when Farage comes out with his lost expenses, dog ate the letter excuse?