The Guardian‘s Harry Fox Davies has picked up on the Tigger thing. Neil Davidson is quoted so:
According to the report, the documents were destroyed “during the winding down of operations”, but Davidson said this related to actions taken by former members of staff between June and July last year.
So – in his telling – they destroyed the records after the European elections, with the cup final still to come. It seems an odd thing to do.
This example offers just one brief glimpse into how the British State and it’s Establishment operates.
No incriminating paperwork; a nod, a wink, an unspoken, unwritten and unrecorded understanding with no practical oversight or effective checks and balances.
It was an interesting and illuminating exercise at the time to note on raising the matter of MP’s, – elected wth the financial and voluntary support of specific organisations including their unpaid work – being allowed to form a PLC effectively answerable to their doners part way through a Parliament without immediate ratification of otherwise from their Constituents that no recourse exists for the citizenry.
The Speakers Office, apparently responsible for upholding democratic Parliamentary principles (whatever they might be right now) seemed to initially obstecate by apparently not understanding the issue before passing the buck to the Electoral Commission. Who in turn suggested the Parliamentary Ombudsman who also decided such matters were not within their remit.
Along the way, as a result of a separate exercise attempting to resolve cases of (non financial) corrupt practices in a registered political party (and we have seen how far that goes from the leaked report earlier in the year), it is also worth noting that unlike many other institutions there is no ombudsman or other independent body (other than the expensive Civil Courts) for members or former members to appeal to when Party’s ignore their own rule book.
It’s little wonder non of the TIGgers were reelected wherever and for whoever they stood last December. The only crumb of comfort is at least some of them won’t be claiming any more beds, or other items, on public expenses.