Laws' position as a Lib Dem MP is significant not only because of his party's position on the expenses scandal but also due to his personal and very public efforts to appear whiter than white. The Chief Secretary to the Treasury, during his time on the Lib Dem front bench, publicly revealed his expense claims and stated; "I will continue to be as prudent as I can with my own personal expenses" (Laws, 2010). Laws also condemned proposals for an increase in the pension paid to MPs in 2002 (Laws, 2002). Though David Laws never specifically spoke out against the practice of breaching the House of Commons expense regulations (that he claimed to hold fast to) in order to keep one's sexual orientation hidden from the public, it stands to reason that his previous moral position makes the revelations of his claims even less comfortable for him. While Laws' claim that he has the right to keep his private life just that (The Telegraph, 2010), it is unlikely that the general public agrees that he should be assisted in that by £40,000 of taxpayers money.
Laws' role as the 'cuts man' of the coalition government looks increasingly untenable. David Cameron is left with a number of key decisions to make; firstly he must decide whether or not Laws should continue in his role and, if he chooses to oust Laws from the government, he must then decide whether to have the 'face of the cuts' wearing a yellow or a blue rosette. A Conservative MP as Chief Secretary to the Treasury might appease some Tory MPs who fear they've surrendered too much power to the Lib Dems in forming a coalition though the role as the government's 'cuts man' is unlikely to further the career of aspiring Conservative MPs. A Lib Dem replacement would likely anger the Conservative backbenches however it would provide the advantage of being able to share responsibility for the upcoming and inevitable public spending cuts with the Liberal Democrats.
A simple, though undoubtedly unpopular solution, would be to retain the current Chief Secretary to the Treasury and allow the already shattered remains of his political career to soak up the loathing of the general public. Whatever transpires, the following list of expense repayments from earlier this year found on the Yeovil Lib Dems homepage is in dire need of updating:
David Laws MP (Yeovil): ZERO.
David Heath MP (Somerton and Frome): ZERO
Jeremy Browne MP (Taunton): ZERO
Iain Liddell-Grainger (Bridgwater): £350.00
David Heathcote-Amory (Wells): £29,691.93
Oliver Letwin MP (West Dorset): £3,883.70
Robert Walter MP (North Dorset): £1,228.32
Jim Knight MP (South Dorset): £3,451.67
Adam Zejma
Clegg (2010). Nick Clegg Speech to Liberal Democrat Spring Conference. http://www.nickclegg.org.uk/news_detail.aspx?title=Nick_Clegg_speech_to_Liberal_Democrat_Spring_Conference&pPK=8fafa999-9dc8-4b19-909e-654b15afbba2
Laws (2002). Laws condemns MP's pension hike. http://www.yeovil-libdems.org.uk/news/press/322.htm
Laws (2010). Laws is again first MP to release new expenses figures. http://www.yeovil-libdems.org.uk/news/press/1305.htm
The Telegraph (2010). David Laws apology: his statement in full. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/mps-expenses/7782226/David-Laws-apology-his-statement-in-full.html
