Tory Eric Pickles quitting as MP

Flickr/Department for Communities and Local Government

Op-ed; Unelected Tory PM Theresa May announced on Monday that a snap General Election would take place June 8 if a majority of MPs agreed.

Some MPs were quick to announce they would not stand in the general election but contrary to some reports that is not unusual and it has not been a peculiar Labour Party phenomenon.

Saturday Tory MP Eric Pickles announced he was stepping down at this election and we thought we would post a reminder of Mr Pickles, a true Tory through and through.

Tory Eric Pickles £500,000 luxury limo spend October 2014

Larger-than-life U.K. Tory politician is an example of a fat-cat in every way. Loathe as we usually are to poke fun at any person for their physical traits, in 2014 Britain it is the norm. As things hot up in the run up to the 2015 General Election the Tory PR machine is throwing its weight behind attacking Labour and its leader Ed Miliband. The attacks are personal and include Ed's appearance but was there ever a bigger figure of fun than Pickles?

His name is the stuff of jokes but then there is his extremely rotund appearance.

News Monday that Pickles, 62, "spent £247,775 on two ministerial cars in 2012, £185,935 in 2013, and £103,091 in the first six months of this year" should shock the electorate to the core.

As a representative and member of the Nasty Party of the U.K., the Tories, Pickles is adept at espousing about austerity and welfare benefit scroungers but once again he is a minister proving to be a big scrounger in every sense of the word.

For 2014 the cost, number crunched by Labour and the Daily Mirror, represents an 11% increase on the previous costs of Pickles' luxury limos.

According to the Mirror, "Shadow Cabinet Office minister Jon Ashworth said: “This looks like seriously wasteful activity. “Mr Pickles should be cutting costs, not driving around in luxury courtesy of the taxpayer.”"

They point out that "Westminster is only two stops on the London underground from Mr Pickles’ Whitehall office in Victoria. A return ticket costs £4.40 - and £536,801 would pay for 122,000 of them. He could buy an annual travelcard for £1,256 - and the money he spent on limos would pay for 427 of those."

Tories trying to defend the use of costly luxury limos have tried to turn the tables on Labour claiming the number of limos used by ministers has reduced from six to two and saying Labour is hypocritical.

No matter what the truth about the figures the Tory led coalition are operating in supposedly tough austere times and they expect the people of Britain to tighten their belts to within an inch of being able to breathe.

Pickles, as Community Minister, told authorities around the U.K. to slash travel spending to save money.

If that does not make him one big fat hypocrite I don't know what does.

Pickles would benefit from leading by example and getting off his butt instead of swanning around in limos paid for by the hard-pressed electorate of the U.K.

No argument justifies his hypocrisy.

If the fact that he is one minister who could never blend into a crowd is part of the problem then he must know what he needs to do, and it is not sit in luxury limos while telling the people of Britain to suck up austerity.

The current wave of spin, propaganda and Labour bashing is more hypocrisy.

Have they never heard of "let he who is without sin cast the first stone" or "look no further than the nearest mirror"?

Part of the campaign is continuing to use UKIP as a threat to Labour when, if needed, the Tories and Ukip will simply unite after the 2015 election as a right-wing Tory or Ukip led government of the U.K.

Currently it is all about putting Labour out of the picture. So tell me again--who are the hypocrites?

NOTE: And in 2017 why the hell would you vote Tory?


Will Sir Eric Pickles be shuffling off to the House of Lords and more money for old rope?

Sources:
Business Insider
Daily Mirror
http://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/795089/Tory-Sir-Eric-Pickles-stand-down-MP-General-Election-Theresa-May
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/eric-pickles-tea-biscuits-bill-3062584

More re Mr Pickles here http://www.tekjournalismuk.com/only-in-the-uk/eric-pickles-belt-tightening-transparency-hypocrisy-and-gagging