Barry Gardiner MP - embarrassed yes, repentent no

Once a year, whether I want it or not, I get a missive from my MP. It's usually a sign that Labour are thinking of going to the country - I never hear from him otherwise. His two leaflets have plenty of glossy pictures of him with various people, although there is little evidence that he belives in much apart from getting re-elected.

So I thought that I ought to find out what he actually does believe in. Let's start with MP expenses... As a member of the Council of Unlock Democracy, I obviously believe that their expenses should be a matter of public record. Barry doesn't. When he does turn up, he votes against, but his attendance record is a bit thin on issues pertaining to 'transparency of government'. In fact, he achieves a score of 12.5%, with three votes against and five no shows. Curiously, he doesn't seem keen to mention that in his correspondence - no pictures of him consulting the 'John Lewis list' to see what sort of television he can get.

Of course, Barry represents a constituency which is 30 minutes by Jubilee Line train from Westminster (Kingsbury is in the heart of Brent North), so naturally he claims the Additional Costs Allowance in full (£22,110 in 2006/07). He needs a serious diary planner to make sure that he gets all of the photographs needed to fill his once a year glossy leaflet, so he claims the largest allowance for staffing costs of any MP (£119,193 in 2006/07, up 96% since 2001/02).

So I can see why he isn't keen on having his expenses published. He was, in 2006/07, the 19th most expensive MP, despite representing a constituency close to the Palace of Westminster (for comparison, Alastair Carmichael, our man in Orkney and Shetland, comes in more than £3,000 per year cheaper despite having to commute in from Kirkwall). He's even more expensive than Dawn Butler, his fellow second home owner from Brent South (she's more expensive than Alastair too)!

If only he spent the money on communicating with me, I might not begrudge it as much. But he doesn't, so I do. Remind me to put out a leaflet in my area in the run-up to the General Election...