Andy McSmith's Diary: MPs’ nepotism vindicated - families who work together stay together

But provided the system is not abused, there is something to be said for allowing MPs to employ their wives, husbands or partners

There has been some comment over the revelation that 129 out of 650 MPs have declared in the Register of Interests that they use their parliamentary allowances to employ relatives. This practice is controversial.

Even before the main MPs’ expenses imbroglio there was a one-off scandal when it was revealed a Tory MP was using public money to give his son an allowance to ease his way through university.

But provided the system is not abused, there is something to be said for allowing MPs to employ their wives, husbands or partners. Parliament is a notorious destroyer of marriages, as instanced in this week’s very public bust up between the Labour MP Simon Danzcuk and his selfie-obsessed wife Karen. But if someone did the research, I am certain they would discover that the divorce rate is markedly lower among MPs whose spouses share their working lives.

I did, though, hear a contrary view during the period when it was thought this practice might be banned. A Labour MP told me he was heartily in favour of a ban. That was because he had taken up with a new woman, and desperately wanted to sack his secretary/wife.

Opik heading for smash-up

Lembit Opik, the former Lib Dem MP is hoping to have the bones in his face smashed in September. He is awaiting an NHS operation which he hopes will not be delayed, to correct some of the near-fatal damage he did to himself in 1998. He was paragliding when, for reasons unknown, he fell out of the sky, breaking his back in 12 places and losing six teeth. The injuries have given his face that recognisable lop-sided look.

“There is an upside to it,” he tells me. “I don’t eat rubbish food. I can’t eat red meat because I can’t chew, so I’m on a really good diet – but I don’t recommend it.”

Of the forthcoming operation, which sounds nightmarish, he says: “It’s less complicated than the job of reconstructing the party. That’s what Nick Clegg and I have in common: we both caused unnecessary accidents.”

Kerri Webb, from Chesterfield in Derbyshire, used to lack self-confidence. From the age of 12, she suffered anxiety. She dared not voice an opinion. But in her late 30s, she has had an epiphany. She saw Nigel Farage on television, and his courage so inspired her that she joined UKIP and found the inner strength to speak in public. In one painful sitting, lasting three and a half hours, she had Farage’s face tattooed on her upper arm. “I've come to a turning point in my life,” she told the Derby Telegraph.

Who’s to blame?

George Osborne’s Northern Powerhouse notion has hit another problem: perhaps not as serious as the delay in rail electrification, but embarrassing. A minister has been questioned in Parliament about where the buck will stop when Greater Manchester’s devolved administration takes over responsibility for health and social care. Suppose someone in the Manchester area wanted to go to court to challenge a hospital closure in the Manchester region, whom would they sue - Lord Warner, a former Labour health minister, asked. Would it be the partnership board set up to run the devolved services, chairman of the relevant NHS trust, the head of NHS England, the Health Secretary, or somebody else?

“As I understand it the accountable body is the partnership board.” the minister, Susan Williams, replied.

She was then asked whether the partnership board would be a statutory body that could be taken to court, or would it be just a partnership. “I imagine it is a statutory body (but) I am not entirely certain,” she replied.

I hope somebody finds out before the changeover.