Rob Merrick: A step too far?

Nov 4 2009 By Rob Merrick, Liverpool Daily Post

GORDON BROWN should remember the hit film Kramer vs Kramer when the Kelly report – on stamping out the Westminster expenses scandal – is published today.

If the leaks are to be believed, Sir Christopher's crackdown will be so draconian that MPs of all colours will let loose their rage at the injustice of it all.

Taxpayer help to buy a second home, generous “golden goodbyes” – they are both going, apparently. And the 200-odd MPs who employ wives, husbands and partners to help run their offices may be forced to sack them.

Among them are no fewer than 11 across the Merseyside area, including Joe Benton (Bootle), George Howarth (Knowsley North and Sefton East), Jane Kennedy (Wavertree) and Peter Kilfoyle (Walton).

It is this last change that appears to be the most painful. Many MPs insist it is not only unfair, but stupid, illegal and will wreck marriages.

And it is here that my reference kicks into that 1979 movie, which found husband-and-wife Dustin Hoffman and Meryl Streep fighting each other in court.

Legal challenges seem inevitable, with one Labour MP's husband threatening to sue his wife for breach of contract, in Parliament's equivalent of Kramer vs Kramer.

Already, the Unite union has promised to use employment law to represent relatives facing the sack – inviting them to a meeting to be held within days.

Imagine the embarrassment of the Commons authorities spending taxpayers' money to defend an MP against her husband and imagine who will inevitably be blamed – one Gordon Brown.

It was the Prime Minister who vowed to accept the Kelly recommendations – whatever they might turn out to be – after the disaster of his own YouTube clean-up campaign.

Now that hostage to fortune has returned to haunt Mr Brown, after the former mandarin went way beyond his expected brief of targeting second-home abuses, the heart of the expenses scandal.

Sir Christopher argues that nowhere else in the public sector can an employer put a relative on the payroll – but, to MPs, the comparison should be with butchers, newsagents and other small businesses.

Worse, the new Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) will not decide whether to accept – or water down – the Kelly report until April.

That means the expenses scandal will now dominate the election campaign – with Labour the biggest loser.

IT WAS the greatest TV night ever. I got back late from a Jesus and Mary Chain gig (I was a student) to watch, in astonishment, as happy Berliners danced on their city's infamous wall.

Luckily, I had something strong on hand to toast them. It was November 9, 1989 – 20 years ago on Monday.