Nadine Dorries - Standards and Privileges Committee Contents


20.  Letter to the Commissioner from Neighbour 1 (constituency), 18 February 2010

Further to your letter dated 2 February and my subsequent telephone conversation with [the Commissioner's office], my comments are as follows:

  • In paragraph 4 of your letter you make reference to another witness claiming that my wife and I spend most of our time in France. This is untrue. We did not in fact purchase our holiday cottage in France until the end of 2008 by which time Nadine had already been our neighbour for just over 18 months. For your information, our time spent there last year (2009) was:

- three weeks in February/March (our first visit following purchase)

- five weeks in May/June during which I returned home twice each time for five days

- two and a half weeks in August which coincided with the Dorries household summer holiday

- two weeks at Christmas.

Hardly most of the year!

  • Your letter infers that I am a "complainant". This is not the case. When approached by the Daily Telegraph, I only offered the following observations:

-It was quite obvious that Nadine and her family used [constituency address 1] as the main family home. The dogs lived there permanently and her daughters came home regularly from university and school frequently with their various friends/boyfriends. Her youngest daughter lived there in 2009 as she attended school locally.

  • I cannot possibly quantify the exact number of days or nights Nadine spent at the house since this would be impossible to do in the absence of a private investigator or a surveillance camera. Our house and my studio adjoins what was her property on two sides and consequently we were acutely aware of her and her family's presence whenever they were there. If Nadine is supposed to have her main home elsewhere, she most certainly did not spend much, if any, time there!

Whilst the above is background information for your enquiry, I do not wish to be a witness. I have only passed these comments as an adjoining neighbour and a taxpayer deeply concerned about the misuse of parliamentary expenses. I merely wish to be a responsible citizen without being dragged into this government expenses inquiry.

18 February 2010


 
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