"I shouldn't have been prosecuted cos it wasn't just me!" - Local MP

From the Sheffield Star:

Disgraced former Barnsley MP Eric Illsley was paid more than £6,500 in the 4 weeks that he clung on to his seat after admitting fiddling his expenses.

Illsley, who was jailed for a year in February for making fraudulent expenses claims worth £14,500, admitted his guilt on January 11th but refused to resign his parliamentary seat until February 8th - 2 days before he was sent to prison.

During that period he claimed £6,766 in expenses including £2,253 for photocopier hire.

Details of his claims were released by the expenses watchdog in charge of the tough new system of parliamentary allowances introduced in the wake of last year's scandal. They said Illsley had still been entitled to claim because he was an MP until he resigned. There is no provision in the law to claw the cash back.

Last month The Star revealed Illsley claimed almost £2,000 in taxpayer-funded allowances in the two months before he admitted fraud.

The £1,965 he received in November and December included more than £1,000 for hiring a photocopier and £48.53 for renting a mobile phone.

Illsley was jailed for a year after admitting three counts of expense fraud relating to his second home in London. He was released after 3 months and is now serving the rest of his sentence under a home detention curfew.

On his release from jail he said he should never have been prosecuted, claiming he was not alone in making his expenses claims.

"What a lot of people don't know is that only a handful of MPs were ever investigated." he said. " Anyone thinking 'he's a wrong 'un' is not aware that lots of other MPS were in the same situation."

So not only does this arrogant liar and cheat hang on to his job for another month (and therefore get another months salary after pleading guilty), but he is let out after 3 months and then has the cheek to say - "I shouldn't be prosecuted cos it wasn't just me." I also wonder what the hell he was photocopying btw - you can buy a bloody machine for what he spent on renting them!

So next time a car thief gets taken to court can he plead immunity because he isn't the only one who nicks cars.

Every day, you come across someone who confirms that "Tosser" is spelled with a double "S".

We just met today's candidiate.