Yeo…is it all in the wife’s name?
A local South Suffolk Conservative Party official last night accused MP Tim Yeo of “using a shell company to hide his earnings: registered in his wife Diana’s name at his London flat address, Mr Yeo has been putting his earnings through this company to avoid tax.” The official declined to be quoted by name.
If true, such blatant tax avoidance would put keen letter-writer and Tax Collector General George Osborne in something of a difficult position.
Meanwhile, a trustees’ meeting of the South Suffolk Conservative Association was due to be held last night in the context of claims that Tory Party rules about campaigning in such elections have not been observed by Mr Yeo’s side. Long-standing committee member Simon Barrett, who is also deputy chairman of Babergh District Council’s strategy committee, said:
“There are very strict rules about how the ballot of all the members can be carried out. The executive should not make any representations, and the MP is allowed to send out a single A4 sheet which is distributed with the election ballots.”
However he alleged Mr Yeo’s side had been actively campaigning. Barrett added:
“All Conservative members in South Suffolk seem to have got Christmas cards from Mr Yeo this year, which contained a letter on House of Commons headed notepaper saying he would be in touch again in the New Year. I’ve been a member of the party for many years. I was there when we originally selected him before the 1983 election, and I’ve never had a card from him before.”
Clearly, Mr Yeo’s Christian Spirit got the better of him this Yuletide…the one where he’s fighting to save his worthless brass-coated neck as an MP.
I understand members of the South Suffolk executive are also profoundly hacked off about the letters of support for Mr Yeo from cabinet ministers George Osborne and Michael Gove.
“I have little doubt that Yeo, Osborne and Gove have unspeakably crooked reasons for trying to keep our MP in Parliament,” said one outspoken constituent late last night, “but I have huge faith in the local Party’s ability to send these interfering Westminster pillocks away with a flea in their ears”.
Marvellous. This is just like the old days in the Labour Party. Stay tuned.
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