Statement

JIM NICHOLSON – THE PART-TIME TORY

Posted on: June 2, 2009

DUP MLA for North Down has accused Jim Nicholson of hypocrisy after he signed a Conservative pledge to publish expenses during the next term of the European Parliament. Mr Weir pointed out that not only had Mr Nicholson enjoyed a globe-trotting lifestyle over the last term of the Parliament, but that he is one of the few 'Conservative' MEPs not to have published their expenses for the last quarter of 2008.

Accusing Mr Nicholson of being a 'part-time Tory' Peter Weir said,'For Jim Nicholson to sign a pledge of “transparency to cut the cost of politics” is hypocrisy of the highest order. Jim Nicholson has been an MEP for nearly twenty years and certainly for the last five years he has enjoyed a lifestyle of exotic travel, opera and moonlight cruises which wouldn’t look out of place in a travel agency brochure.

Since 2005 Mr Nicholson has enjoyed two cruises around Sydney harbour as well as opera and wine in Australia and New Zealand. He has had three other trans-Atlantic trips and a week in the Maldives all paid for from public funds. There has been absolutely no transparency from Mr Nicholson about his fondness for foreign travel and it has only been through trawling the depths of the European Parliament website that all the details have finally emerged.

Mr Nicholson might also claim to have signed up to a Conservative pledge to publish some details of office costs and travel claims in the future. Strangely however, for someone who makes much of his linkages with the Conservative group in Europe for many years, and who has been part of the process leading to the Tory merger for many months now Mr Nicholson has not joined his other party ‘colleagues’ in declaring his expenses for the last quarter of 2008*.

Mr Nicholson’s secrecy in this area has even attracted criticism from within Conservative circles with former senior Conservative Party staffer and lead blogger on the ‘conservativehome’ website singling out Mr Nicholson’s lack of transparency**. Perhaps Mr Nicholson is only going to fit in with Conservative party policy on expenses when it suits him, or is he simply declaring himself as a ‘part-time Tory’, happy to take whatever financial benefit there may be from the Conservatives, but unprepared to actually play by the same rules as his colleagues.

Mr Nicholson, like Mr Allister and Ms de Brun, has been able to avail of the generous EUR1200 travel allowance every time he flies to Brussels even though the flight may have cost a fraction of that amount. Mr Nicholson, Mr Allister and Ms de Brun need to tell the public what they have been doing with this surplus over the last five years. Some boast about the number of trips they took, little wonder when they get EUR1200 everytime.

It is notable however that the ‘trade-union’ which seems to have developed amongst some sitting MEPs where they single out other candidates for criticism but close ranks when any discussion of their own expenses is brought out for public scrutiny. The cosy arrangements for our MEPs deserve the same scrutiny as for any other elected politician in Northern Ireland. The fact that MEPs are not subject to the same FOI requirements as other elected representatives should not be reason for secrecy. De-flecting onto others is not acceptable. They must answer the questions.

Given Jim Nicholson’s refusal to declare his past expenses we are only left to assume that this new promise is a UCUNF pledge to change their ways and leave the publicity-shy globetrotting in the past. The public of course have every right to be very wary about any pledge made by Mr Nicholson and when he slides back to the anonymity in which he has spent most of the last two decades we can only speculate whether he will again defy his Conservative colleagues when it comes to expense declarations.’