Telegraph gets teeth into Widdecombe

The Torygraph have finally got their teeth into Ann Widdecombe:

"The Conservative MP, one of the leading contenders to become Speaker, was sent thousands of articles in which she was named over a four-year period at a cost of 75p each, with deliveries on an almost daily basis."

The bizarre thing is that knowing what the media are writing about you seems to be a reasonable thing to do, I think. It might have saved the taxpayer money if she had used Google alerts (although I'm not sure these were around in 2004), but I don't have much of a problem with this expense.

Why the Telegraph didn't question her voting record on expenses transparency is beyond me though. How can anyone who has voted against making expenses explicit and public put themselves forward as a speaker candidate?

They have also failed to mention the gardening claims that Ann has submitted. While they are not huge, I can't see why taxpayers should have to pay for these. If MPs want the state to pay for a second home then they should choose a small flat.

The same goes for cleaning. Sure, I don't expect MPs to do all their own cleaning if they are working 15 hour days but why should the state pay? This has nothing to do with a second home, they would still need to clean if they lived in one home rather than 2, they certainly would be making more mess by living in two???