There is a letter going around, from various Labour party members to the NEC, which meets on Tuesday. The full letter is here, but the gist is that those of us spending our precious free time campaigning for the party, at our own expense, are not happy about the behaviour of some of our party’s MPs or the leadership’s response to them.We are asking the NEC to

• Organise a thorough review of suspected excessive and abusive claims – regardless of whether they were eventually signed off by an over-worked Fees Office.
• Support the immediate removal of the whip from individual MPs who have brought the party into disrepute over this issue and allow CLPs to trigger reselection ballots against them.

Not a lot to ask for is it?

Anybody else who wants to add their signature to the letter can do so by sending a mail to necletter@hotmail.co.uk – just make sure you mention any positions you hold in the party – constituency chair, PPC, councillor, or whatever.

I have added my name to it, although I will not be around to see what happens at the NEC meeting…   ironically, I shall be off in France for a couple of days with work and therefore on expenses.  Not as hypocritical as it sounds: they will all be properly receipted, wholly necessary, and lower than they could be – taking the RER as far as I can and a taxi just for the last little bit.