The Telegraph has claimed another scalp in their seemingly never ending hunt for wrong doing MP’s. On the 28th of May the paper declared that David Laws, the newly installed Chief Secretary to the Treasury, senior Liberal Democrat, the minister responsible for massive cuts imposed by the new coalition, Nick Clegg’s right hand guy, coalition negotiator, and all round well liked politician, was not as whiter than white as first assumed.
He had claimed £40,000 of taxpayers’ money to pay rent to his landlord, James Lundie, who owned the house where he kept a room in London. This should not have caused much stir, plenty of MP’s did it, and it was perfectly within the rules. What was not allowed however was paying money to a spouse, or a person treated as such. Much to the consternation of the Telegraph, that was indeed what Mr Lundie was to Mr Laws. They had, by his own later admission, been partners since 2001. In 2006 the parliamentary rules changed to disallow rent payments to a partner, but Mr Laws continued to claim the money until 2009, when he began renting a flat elsewhere.
The facts of the case are well known. It was the briefest cabinet stint in history. After just over two weeks after the election, one of the brightest stars in the new government and the Liberal Democrat Party has resigned his prominent cabinet post. There was no other alternative. However much sympathy one has with David Laws’ position, the fact remains that he broke the rules, even if they are simply pathetic rules which need rewriting so as not to be so open to interpretation, and wrongfully claimed over what an average family earns in a year.
Liberal Democrat friends of mine jumped to his defence. “He could have claimed a lot more than that”, “It was only £40,000, it’s not like he profited that much, what if he’d have claimed for a mortgage?”. While Conservative friends, shockingly, took up the David Laws cause with almost the same enthusiasm. “The poor guy,” one bemoaned, “He was so good, and he shouldn’t have to resign”.
I was fiercely angry at them. In fact, I was outraged. How dare these people change their minds so quickly? A few weeks ago they were baying for the heads of Jacqui Smith and Tony McNulty, while David Cameron was severely punishing his party and blaming the expenses scandal on Gordon Brown (yes they will blame anything on him), and Nick Clegg was swaggering around saying how his party was so good and proper. Now they were defending the same kind of wrong doing, in fact, in some cases, worse. Only £40,000 I repeated in my head until it exploded out of me. “ONLY £40,000?!!?!” I raged, “Do you know how much money that is! That’s more than the annual salary of an average family in this country! That’s over double the average wage! It’s not ONLY £40,000, or JUST £40,000, it’s a hell of a lot of money!”
I quickly regained control of myself to put my case forward. David Laws broke the rules. Clearly and most definitely, he broke the rules. He must go. At the time, I didn’t think he would. I thought he’d cling onto his cabinet post despite what I thought, but then, the next day I read a tweet from a friend. “David Laws’ resigns” it said. Plain, simple, and to the point. Well there you go, I thought, Over.
How wrong I was. Over the next couple of days I was horrified by what was happening in the media and in the attitudes of my friends. (Some of them...I must stress). Not only that, but the comments of some prominent gay MP’s and charities. Ben Bradshaw, the Labour MP for Exeter, expressed dismay and confusion as to why David Laws’ might want to keep his sexuality secret.
“Why should anyone in Britain today feel ashamed to acknowledge they're gay” he tweeted.
I replied.
“Should and do are two very different things. Fear and shame are commonplace. I understand completely why he wanted privacy”
And I do. Ben Bradshaw may have a remarkable life in which no one cares that he is gay or not. Maybe he does not encounter bullies, thugs, homophobes, skinheads and the like. Maybe that’s why he doesn’t understand that there are vast swathes of this country that are still homophobic, and anti gay rights, whether they openly admit to it or not. Being gay is still a massively big issue for many people, gay or straight, and in many walks of life, including education, entertainment, sport, and indeed, politics.
Stonewall were no better. In an article in the Guardian it denounced David Laws for not coming out earlier and setting an example to others to do the same. How dare he stay in the closet, value his privacy, or even have the brazen cheek to maybe be scared of what the reaction may be if he admitted who he was to the world. It also called on sports stars of football, bearing in mind we’re in the run up to the world cup, to come out, declare themselves, and set an example. I do not disagree that it would make it easier for young boys and girls if someone they loved and looked up to was comfortable with something that they are still attempting to come to terms with. However, to actively call for people to make examples of themselves is ridiculous, annoying, insensitive, and blatantly no one else’s business but the person who has to make the choice.
The fact is that today’s Britain is not as liberal, caring, or accepting as some people like to convince themselves it is. Much to my disappointment.
David Laws should not have done what he did. He should not have taken the £40,000 wrongly. But whether or not to announce to the world that he is gay is not anyone else’s choice but his own, and I understand completely, and sympathise greatly, with the torment he felt, the paralysing fear which disabled him, and the fierce desire for privacy, for himself and his partner, Mr Lundie.
I hope very much he will get through this episode in his life, and that he has the love and support of those he thought loved him before. And I hope very much that this bright spark, this hugely and undoubtedly intelligent and talented man, even if he is a Liberal Democrat, can show how talented he is again. Just maybe not wielding the spending axe. I am after all, a Labour boy.
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