Dodgy Git Of The Day...er, Week

Once again, finding a suitable candidate has been a tricky task. Last time we did Dodgy Git of the Week - or indeed, Dodgy Git of the Day as it then was - the problem was that there was such an abundance of dodginess and such a plethora of gits we just couldn't narrow it down to one person, so we gave the award to the entire British Parliament.

Today, it seems the problem relates to some American pop star or another who last made a decent record in the 1980s. Whoever it was, apparently they've gone and died so the newspapers are full of that - and no doubt the Government will be using it as a golden opportunity to announce martial law or the enforced closure of the Daily Telegraph or something along those lines - which has resulted in British politics being rather overlooked for the first time in months.

However, our politicians won't ever let us down and of course we can always rely on at least one of them to do something suitably dodgy and gitesque. Thankyou Ann Keen, Labour MP for Brentford and Isleworth, you stepped up to the challenge.

Now. Mrs. Keen is, as we all know, married to fellow MP Alan Keen and they have a house in Brentford, just ten miles from Westminster. But hey - that's far enough for them to have a second home closer to Parliament at the tax-payers' expense, so you can bet your bottom pound sterling that they made sure they got one. Trouble is, they then forgot to live in the main residence - which they have to pay for - for seven months, and now the local council want to take it away from them and use it for some worthwhile purpose. That seems pretty damn dodgy in its own right, but why is Ann getting the Dodgy Git award all to herself?

A few years back, in 2005, one of Ann's staff members injured themself at work which resulted in spell of absence from the job. When they returned, it was decided that they would need to complete an occupational health assessment. The staff member decided he or she would like this done privately, since they had private medical insurance. There was still a £150 contribution to be paid, however, and although £150 isn't a great deal of money in the big scheme of things nobody would want to pay it if there was a way to avoid doing so. But good old Ann, with her rather juicy MP's salary, stepped up to the mark and paid it for her loyal employee.

Such altruism! Such charity! How on Earth can Acid Rabbi possibly see such noble actions as deserving a Dodgy Git Award, you may be thinking? Well, this is Ann Keen, remember, one half of the notorious scam duo...sorry, married couple who claimed nearly £138,000 for a second home and then let their main one go to waste, even though as London residents they're surely familiar with the sight of people sleeping on the cold, wet streets. So what did she do? Obvious. Like we say, nobody wants to be £150 down if there's a way to avoid it, and for Ann there was a way - she just submitted an expenses claim and we paid for it instead! £150 for private medicine which, though a tiny amount, could have gone to the cash-starved National Health Service that the vast majority of us have to make do with.

Well done, Mrs. Keen. You are a fine example!