Tag Archives: ian liddell-grainger

Somerset Tory Ian Liddell-Grainger tops Parliamentary nepotism league

“You get what pay for”, said Tory Ian Liddell-Grainger when defending the largest MP expense claims in the South West. “The majority of the money has been spent on staff costs. I employ slightly more people than most but they are a really good team.” So who are is superhuman troupe toiling day and night for the citizens of Bridgewater and West Somerset?

For the taxpayer, “getting what you pay for” means keeping ILG’s wife Jill and two twenty-something children Peter and Sophie on the Parliamentary payroll. The Somerset MP has topped Guido Fawkes’ nepotism survey, employing more members of staff sharing the same surname than any other MP.  Until his youngest daughter was no longer eligible, Liddel-Grainger’s claims for family travel were valued in the top 3% of all 640+ members.

While CCHQ attempted to keep the “deranged” MP under wraps during the election campaign, he still managed to infuriate voters by refusing to take part in debates with other candidates,  telling the BBC he ”did not have the time” to attend hustings.

Perhaps he was busy updating his “excellent pussy” blog?

There goes the feminist vote

It seems the Tory MP for Bridgwater is partial to innuendo that would not amuse his great-great-great grandmother. While Scrapbook isn’t given to outbreaks of prudishness, crass references to female genitalia perhaps stretch the appropriateness of what should appear at the top of an MP’s website:

The site of Tory toff Ian Liddell-Grainger features the “Excellent Pussy” blog, ostensibly written by his cat Mogg. ILG has reportedly used this feline nom de guerre to pursue poisonous vendettas not only against local government staff but also his own Conservative colleagues:

The details of the long-running row are complicated and possibly irrelevant to anyone living outside Somerset, but they include calling the [retired chief executive of Somerset Council] a total twit, Judas, a little man smaller than life and twice as creepy, mad, in need of medical help (with a helpful link to a Tourette’s website), plus false allegations of adultery, lying and corruption and an insulting YouTube video, now taken down. Another Tory MP, Bob Neill, even complained when his colleague invented a swear-laden harangue which he claimed Jones had addressed to Neill.

Liddell-Grainger should prove to be a ticking time bomb for Tory whips, who struggled to keep him under wraps during the election.

Unhinged isn’t the word.

Hat-tip: Grace Fletcher-Hackwood

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