Phil Hope, the care services minister, has decided to pay back about £41,709 of expenses within “a week or so”.
He insists it is nothing to do with his slender majority. But the politics of this are a side issue. What we’re really interested in is where Mr Hope is planning to find the cash from. Not that many people have £41K sitting in a bank account.
He has some outside interests (he’s the director of a printing company) but they look relatively modest. I can’t imagine selling all the furniture second hand would raise anywhere near what he needs. It could be very painful.
A brave move. Our hearts go out to Mrs Hope.
Jim Pickard
Kiran Stacey