Hypocrisy

Each year, Members of Parliament receive about £10,000 as a "communications allowance".

They can spend this pretty much how they like on communications - funding a website or distributing a parliamentary report are the most common uses.

The Conservative were strident in their opposition to this allowance. This is what Conservative Shadow Cabinet Minister Theresa May said at the time:

"Of course MPs have a duty to communicate with their constituents. But we also have a duty to spend our constituents' taxes wisely. With modern means of communication, we can communicate with our constituents without spending great sums of taxpayers' money...The real risk of these proposals is that the money will be used for political marketing and therefore give an unfair advantage to incumbent MPs. I'm sure the sceptical public don't want more of their taxes spent on MPs' spin funds."

Putney's Conservative MP Justine Greening was clearly convinced by that argument - she joined most of her colleagues voting against the allowance. That's a perfectly honourable position to take - I disagree with her, but it's nice to see her taking a clear stance on something substantive.

In this light, you may have been surprised, recently, to receive through your door a newsletter from her - a party political leaflet in all but name - paid for entirely out of the Parliamentary Communications Allowance (i.e. by you and I). One day she's voting against MPs getting this allowance - the next she orders thousands of newsletters, paid for by the allowance.

Some Conservative MPs had the courage of their convictions and didn't claim the allowance because they knew that to do so would have been hypocritical. Justine Greening had no such qualms.