Bill Cash reselected

The Conservative MP Bill Cash, who achieved notoriety by claiming for a supposed second home that on closer investigation turned out to in fact be a flat in London's pricey Notting Hill inhabited by his daughter (big thanks for that one, daddy!), has been reselected as an MP by his constituency Conservative party and as such will once again stand for Stone in Staffordshire come the General Election.

Bill Cash: a greedy, money-grabbing liar...but you can be sure his daughter loves her daddy very much. So would you, in return for a rent-free flat in Notting Hill.

Mr. Cash became one of the best-known MPs caught up in the expenses scandal, and not just due to the obvious tabloid headline pun potential of his name, either. The sheer audacity of the claims he made - which are intended to cover the costs of a second home near to Westminster so that the recipient is able to regularly attend Parliamentary debates - caught the public's attention almost as much as Sir Peter Viggers' infamous duck house and the wicked webs woven by the likes of George Osborne and Shahid Malik.

Tory leader David Cameron later wrote to the MP, saying: "As you know, I was asked last week about your claims under the ACA. I responded by saying that I thought it was important you answered the serious questions that were being put...you have now given full answers to those questions. You have yourself suggested that you pay £15,000 to the Fees Office for the period in question. I am grateful for your offer to do so." (The letter in full).

Constituency Conservatives chairman John Pendergrast claimed that Mr. Cash had received an "overwhelming" show of support, but the exact margin by which he was reselected is unknown as the decision was made by secret ballot. Mr. Pendergrast said that while he is "proud to support" Mr. Cash, "the electorate of Stone...are the people who make the decision."

Has the chairman not realised that Stone's Conservative party are but a small section of the electorate? Mr. Cash has been an MP for 25 years but he shouldn't start settling back in just yet. When his suitability and worthiness as an MP is put to the test for real - ie; when the entire Stone electorate are involved in the vote - he may well find that support suddenly becomes distinctly underwhelming since it is a safe bet that those residing in his constituency are likely to be no less angry nor any more ready to forgive and forget that they have been cynically taken for a ride than any other community that has just discovered their Parliamentary representative is a greedy, money-grabbing liar.