Another Rat Jumps Ship

It seems that another rat has decided to leave Parliament whilst his golden lifebelt is still intact.*

Tory MP Richard Spring to step down at the election

Conservative Party vice-chairman Richard Spring has announced he will stand down from Parliament at the next general election.

He was not the most egregious of troughers, but he was there for 18 years and took full advantage., amongst which were;

£35 of Commons expenses to get rid of a wasps' nest.

£163 for retuning televisions and video players in his home

£3,500 in legal fees relating to the purchase of his second home.

I wonder what his reasons are?

“The 63-year-old former businessman gave no reason for his decision.”

Well a quick glance at his Wiki page ( which is very sparse considering he’s been an MP for 18 years) tells us that.

He is currently a Vice-Chairman of the Conservative Party responsible for business links in the City of London.

Oh Ka-ching , they’ve got to bidding up for potential Ex-Tory MP’s with access to the PM, although ‘Call Me Dave’ is not yet a shoe in, it’s wise to hedge your bets.

Then of course all the troughing is coming to an end and if you stand down now you still qualify for the full 9 month resettlement allowance rather than 2 months after the next parliament.

That’s a minimum £32,000 you could lose by staying on, not to be chucked away lightly.

Is it any wonder that over 100 of his fellow rats have said they are not standing again.

Over at Iain Dale, he’s a bit upset by the news.

“Parliament will be the poorer without him.”

Well that’s your opinion Iain, but I can safely say the people of Britain will be just a bit richer. ( Until they find some other way of robbing us.)

*Apologies for mixing metaphors, but I couldn’t find a picture of a rat in a parachute and it sort of works