Coleman answers critics

Posted: Tue Jul 07, 2009 4:16 pm

07 July 2009 3:11 PM
Brian Coleman defies calls to publish his itemised exes

Tory Assembly member Brian Coleman is clearly unmoved by the new political mood that has swept Westminster since the expenses scandal broke.

Mr Coleman - who has brushed aside criticism of his big taxi bills in the past two years - tells me he will not voluntarily* publish his itemised expenses.

This is in defiance of both the London Assembly - where 24 other members have published receipts - and the Mayor himself (who has pushed for greater transparency for his own bills and those of his advisers).

But Mr Coleman is proud to stand out from the herd. He says:

“I won’t do it vountarily. It’s none of the public’s business. They have coped well without knowing this kind of detail for more that 75 years."

“They are not entitled to drool over our personal lives. I’m not going to help the mad, bad and the sad, the bloggers on the internet. I’m not pandering to mob rule. It undermines democracy to suggest that all MPs, all politicians are the spawn of beelzebub.

“Nobody is going to go into public life if they think the minutiae of their grocery bills are going to be looked over.”

When it is pointed out that fellow Tory Andrew Boff managed to pull on the hairiest of hair shirts with zero expense claims, Mr Coleman replies:

“Politicians with lower expenses tend to be the politicians who do least work. Those with higher expenses are the ones who do most work.”

Mr Coleman adds that he has nothing to hide and points out his exes are audited. But he adds:

"I'm from the Boris school of anarchist thinking. If somebody tells me to do something, I don't want to do it."

FOOTNOTE*: Coleman even challenges suggestions that he will be compelled to do so next week (when the Assembly is expected to approve a resolution demanding the practice). He points out that BMAC only passed a resolution that called on the Exec Director of Resources to come forward with proposals for itemised publication.

But City Hall officials are under the impression that on July 15 itemised expenses will have to be published. The BMAC resolution states that there will be "substantive proposals for publishing itemised expenses expenditure for Mayor’s Office staff, Assembly Members and officers of the Authority".

http://waugh.standard.co.uk/2009/...to-publish-his-itemised-exes.html

Posted: Tue Jul 07, 2009 4:24 pm

A senior Tory on the London Assembly refused to publish his expenses today, declaring that his detailed claims were “none of the public's business”.

Brian Coleman said that only the “mad, bad and the sad” were interested in the “minutiae” of his taxi bills and other costs picked up by the taxpayer.

Mr Coleman's stance openly defies moves by Boris Johnson and the London Assembly to publish itemised expenses to shed light on the workings of City Hall. The Mayor, his advisers and 24 members of the Assembly have all voluntarily agreed to print their detailed claims ahead of moves to make the practice compulsory next week. Mr Coleman is the only politician not to have done so.

He said today that he had nothing to hide but felt that his expenses had already been fully audited and there was no need to publicise details.

“I won't do it voluntarily. It's none of the public's business. They have coped well without knowing this kind of detail for more that 75 years,” he said. “They are not entitled to drool over our personal lives. I'm not going to help the mad, bad and the sad, the bloggers on the internet. I'm not pandering to mob rule. It undermines democracy to suggest that all MPs, all politicians are the spawn of Beelzebub.

“Politicians with lower expenses tend to be the politicians who do least work. Those with higher expenses are the ones who do most work.”

The Standard has discovered from quarterly audit returns that Mr Coleman has racked up a £1,946 bill for taxis from April last year to May this year — the third highest of anyone in the authority.

Mr Coleman is also entitled to expenses in his capacity as chairman of London's fire authority. Last month, he came under attack for running up a £378 taxi bill for one event, most of which stemmed from keeping a cab waiting while he attended a banquet.

Sources close to the Mayor said: “Boris has made it clear from day one that transparency and openness are the heart of his administration.

“He is disappointed when any Assembly member doesn't appreciate that the public rightly expect to know what's being done by their elected representatives in their name and with their money.” Deputy Labour leader John Biggs said: “In the interests of transparency Mr Coleman should publish his claims. His secrecy must be an embarrassment for Boris.”

Labour also faced embarrassment as fully itemised receipts were published for the first time. Jennette Arnold, the Labour chairwoman of a City Hall committee scrutinising expenses, is herself repaying £187.19 public money spent on cabs for personal use.

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/sta...ublishing+his+expenses/article.do

Posted: Wed Jul 15, 2009 5:05 pm

THE Mayor of Barnet was treated to free meals and a £350 Harvey Nichols hamper by a company later awarded a contract by an authority he chairs.

Councillor Brian Coleman, also London Assembly Member for Barnet and Camden, received the hospitality over the last two years from AssetCo.

On June 25 AssetCo was awarded a contract to provide emergency cover for the London Fire Brigade by the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority (LFEPA), which Mr Coleman chairs.

The five-year contract was won after a competitive tendering process and there is no suggestion that the hospitality and that process are linked.

When Mr Coleman was contacted by the Times Series for comment on why he accepted the meals and hamper he hung up the telephone.

The register of hospitality and gifts received by members of the LFEPA is not publicly available but was obtained by Adam Bienkov, author of the Tory Troll blog, under the Freedom of Information Act.

The register shows that between September 2007 and January this year Mr Coleman received 13 free meals.

Two of these, and the Harvey Nichols Hamper, were courtesy of AssetCo chief executive John Shannon, and a further lunch courtesy of AssetCo.

AssetCo is currently eight years into a 20-year contract to buy and maintain all of the front-line equipment used by the London Fire Brigade.