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Expenses mole angry over Army kit
The expenses scandal rocked Westminster
The expenses scandal began because the mole who caused the leak was angry about
inadequate equipment for the armed forces, the Daily Telegraph said. The newspaper
says staff who worked in secrecy processing the MPs' receipts were guarded by
moonlighting servicemen on leave between tours.
They became angry when they learned of MPs' lavish claims when soldiers had inade-
quate equipment, the paper says. Many servicemen were working so they could buy
better kit, the paper adds.
Tipping point
The unidentified mole is quoted as saying the soldiers' accounts of their poor equipment
prompted him to leak the information. The paper quotes the mole as saying: "It's not easy
to watch footage on the television news of a coffin draped in a Union Jack and then come
in to work the next day and see on your computer screen what MPs are taking for themselves."
The stark contrast between conditions facing soldiers and the MPs' lavish claims "helped tip
the balance in the decision over whether I should or should not leak the expenses data,"
the mole is quoted as saying.
"When they're out in Afghanistan they're out there for Queen and country, earning £16,000 or
£17,000-a-year, knowing they're going to take losses, while the MPs are sitting in Parliament
on £65,000, with massive expenses, and meanwhile you've got bodies coming home."
The mole said everyone working on the MPs' expenses claims were "of the same mind".
"This was our money and these were our employees, effectively, but no-one could hold
them to account.
Mole hunt called off
"That was why I leaked the information: because the British public deserves better,"
the mole is quoted as saying.
The newspaper says that about 20 Her Majesty's Stationery Office and parliamentary
staff worked for months in great secrecy in a south London office copying and processing
the MPs' receipts.
The BBC's political correspondent Ben Wright said although there was originally a hunt
to find the mole when the scandal broke, it was unsuccessful and has since been called
off. Our correspondent said: "Parliament has moved a very long way since then. It has
claimed so many careers, it has prompted a massive overhaul of the parliamentary
expenses system."
The claims are made in a book being published by the Daily Telegraph on Friday about
the expenses scandal called No Expenses Spared.
The expenses scandal rocked Westminster
The expenses scandal began because the mole who caused the leak was angry about
inadequate equipment for the armed forces, the Daily Telegraph said. The newspaper
says staff who worked in secrecy processing the MPs' receipts were guarded by
moonlighting servicemen on leave between tours.
They became angry when they learned of MPs' lavish claims when soldiers had inade-
quate equipment, the paper says. Many servicemen were working so they could buy
better kit, the paper adds.
Tipping point
The unidentified mole is quoted as saying the soldiers' accounts of their poor equipment
prompted him to leak the information. The paper quotes the mole as saying: "It's not easy
to watch footage on the television news of a coffin draped in a Union Jack and then come
in to work the next day and see on your computer screen what MPs are taking for themselves."
The stark contrast between conditions facing soldiers and the MPs' lavish claims "helped tip
the balance in the decision over whether I should or should not leak the expenses data,"
the mole is quoted as saying.
"When they're out in Afghanistan they're out there for Queen and country, earning £16,000 or
£17,000-a-year, knowing they're going to take losses, while the MPs are sitting in Parliament
on £65,000, with massive expenses, and meanwhile you've got bodies coming home."
The mole said everyone working on the MPs' expenses claims were "of the same mind".
"This was our money and these were our employees, effectively, but no-one could hold
them to account.
Mole hunt called off
"That was why I leaked the information: because the British public deserves better,"
the mole is quoted as saying.
The newspaper says that about 20 Her Majesty's Stationery Office and parliamentary
staff worked for months in great secrecy in a south London office copying and processing
the MPs' receipts.
The BBC's political correspondent Ben Wright said although there was originally a hunt
to find the mole when the scandal broke, it was unsuccessful and has since been called
off. Our correspondent said: "Parliament has moved a very long way since then. It has
claimed so many careers, it has prompted a massive overhaul of the parliamentary
expenses system."
The claims are made in a book being published by the Daily Telegraph on Friday about
the expenses scandal called No Expenses Spared.
