Cleverly Coded Criticism of Coleman !!!!

Praise where praise is due. If I see a politician, whatever the party doing something the right way, I'll praise them to the hilltops. There are plenty of decent men and women in all of the parties, doing the job as best they can. I am sure the excesses of politicians like Brian Coleman must privately enrage them. His £8,231 taxi bill last year no doubt caused much squirming amongst his colleagues on the London assembly. It rather looks to me as if one of his colleagues, James Cleverly has had enough of Brian Coleman's excesses and has decided to take a principled stand and send him a powerful message. In his blog http://www.jamescleverly.blogspot.com dated yesterday he says :-

22 January, 2009
My expenses

Jimmy, a regular commentator on this blog, makes a valid request. In my last post I wrote about MPs expenses and he feels it only fair that I'm open about mine. Fair point.

Before I reveal the figure I think it only fair to explain that Assembly Members and MPs expenses work in very different ways.

Firstly because London is a physically tight area none of us need second homes. All our staff, IT equipment and office equipment is paid for centrally rather than being paid by or bought by the MP, as is the case in Westminster. I also get an annual travel card so I can get around London for meetings, visits etc. This all keeps our expenses lower and more simple than MPs.

Now here is the good bit. Based on my expenses since being elected in May of last year I calculate my annual expense claim for the municipal year 2008/9 will be £0.00

I can't promise it will always be this low but I'll do my best.

Well Done James. Another Tory who's style I quite like is Roger Evans. I suspect that he's very close to Brian Coleman politically, but he can make his point without coming over as being arrogant or offensive. Wheras Coleman dismissed the Brent Cross Railway as "A bonkers scheme devised by men with train sets in their attics" (or words to that effect, Evans puts his opposition to Cross London Tram in far more measured and sensible terms in a reply to a question I asked him on HIS BLOG. He says :-

One of these was Brian Coleman who made his presence felt by objecting to the tram proposal, to the extent that his efforts were - I believe - reported by some of the pro tram bloggers, after the meeting. I was also present and I raised an objection on the grounds of cost. I can think of many better ways to spend £1.3 billion...

I don't agree with Roger Evans at all on this subject, but it seems to me that his approach is far more sensible. There even seems to be a tacit acknowledgement in his comment that the Brian Coleman approach doesn't really help move the debate forward.
I don't expect Colemans fellow assembly members to go public with open criticism, but it certainly seems to me as if they have realised that his approach does more harm than good. The James Cleverly attitude towards his expenses is a breath of fresh air and there are many politicians of all parties who could take a leaf out of his book.