Words Dept.: entry

As a conscientious citizen of Stockport, and since nobody else seems to have bothered themselves much with the subject, I thought I’d have a look at Stockport MP Ann Coffey’s expenses, as revealed last week, to see if I could find anything interesting.

The Manchester Evening News has already mentioned something about curtains and a £200 monthly cleaning bill, while the Stockport Express revealed the £5,000 that was spent on stamps. However, it also appears that Ms Coffey had some problems with the installation of blinds at her constituency office and ended up spending almost £400 in order to resolve the issue.

To explain. In October 2006, a claim of £86.50 is made for “blinds for office”.

Then, in December, someone called Paul Hammond is paid £50 to “remove existing Venetian blinds and replace with three customer supplied roller blinds”.

So far, so straightforward. But then, in January, a company called Abbey Blinds (their address is “redacted”, presumably to minimise the threat of terrorism, but a Google search reveals that they are based at 341 Buxton Road, Stockport) is paid £260 to supply and fit three Venetian blinds “in 25mm Oyster”.

Hmm. Venetian blinds replaced by roller blinds? Roller blinds replaced by Venetian blinds a few weeks later? I sense blood! After all, it’s hardly as though the office is some triple-glazed skyscraper with floor-to-ceiling windows and monstrous solar gain. It’s actually above the Debra charity shop on Bramhall Lane in Davenport. (I walked past it earlier and noticed the lovely Venetian blinds.)

An email to Ann Coffey’s office elicits a speedy response from an assistant, who says the original Venetians weren’t replaced “until one was actually broken and came away from the window”. (Horrible when that happens.) The roller blind replacements were chosen as “a less expensive option”. Unfortunately, that’s when everything went quite hideously wrong.

We have a lot of natural light coming into this office, and the roller blinds did not keep the sun off the computer screens or protect the staff from glare from the windows onto the screens. As you will realise, with Venetian blinds you can alter the amount of light which comes in by varying the slats. Even with the roller blinds fully down, there was too much glare at certain times of the day.

Therefore, having tried to adapt to this, we realised that the only solution was to go back to Venetian blinds, which were ordered and fitted by a local firm, Abbey Blinds. This accounts for the £260 invoice which was submitted for payment in January 07.

So, a rather farcical chain of events, rather than the Watergate scandal I was hoping for. Oh well.

Elsewhere, I was interested to see that Coffey spent a total of £2,916 in the space of six months on the distribution of leaflets – once in September 2006 (£1,448) and then in February 2007 (£1,468). The purchase of a £445 laptop in June 2006 is not accompanied by a receipt as far as I can see, although one is provided for the purchase of a £195 digital camera and 2GB SD memory card from Jessops in late 2007.

I also noticed her mobile phone bills are rather over the top. In most months she is claiming in excess of £100 for “O2 Mobile” or variations thereof. In October 2006 alone, Coffey claimed £242 (captured on the first screengrab, above). Unlike the BT landline, utility bills, stationery and other stuff, no mobile phone bills are provided. The assistant explains that at that time there was no obligation to provide receipts for sums under £250.

Like many other MPs, Coffey claims for her accountancy fees out of her “incidental expenses provision”. £681.50 is paid to HW Fisher Chartered Accountants for a “tax return” on a couple of occasions.

So, I can’t really complain about anything much, least of all the quick response from her office about my ultimately fatuous enquiries. On the other hand, I don’t agree with the Iraq war, ID cards, or the idea of 90 days’ detention without charge – all of which were very much supported by Ann Coffey.