John Mann writing about the Kelly report in the Indpendent on Wednesday opened the column with:

‘You w*****, you f****** w*****’, exploded one Tory MP to me today, ‘You do not speak for me.’ Indeed I do not.

That about sums it all up. Mr Mann only has his own interests at heart.

He’s bad, bad Nero Brown
Baddest man in the whole damn town
Badder than old King Kong
Meaner than a junkyard dog

With apologies to Jim Croce and Frank Sinantra

Rent-A-Quote specialist John Mann was at it again on the Beeb last night, endorsing the Kelly Committee’s recommendations on MP’s expenses “lock, stock and barrel”.  One of the many recommendations is that MP’s will no longer be able to employ family members on the Government payroll. Hmm. The cycnical amongst you might suggest that Mr Mann’s ‘I’m-squeaky-clean-on-expenses’ stance is nothing more than a bit of skin saving and that he is quite prepared to sacrifice his wife’s job on the altar of self-preservation. There was no suggestion by him that one of his employees, Joanna White, is doing a good job and should not be a casualty of the expenses conflict. That’s right, Joanna White is Mrs Joanna Mann. If he is really serious about his stance, he will fire her now, today, and set an example. Let’s see if he will put his wife’s money where his mouth is.

Whatever else Mr Mann is, he is not daft. He is well aware that the previously safe Labour seat in Bassetlaw is now anything but safe and he stands to lose in May 2010 (or maybe sooner if Pa Broon continues on his hapless course – would you like a biscuit, Pa, to give you energy for the u-turns?)

He loses no opportunity to jump on whatever bandwagon he thinks will ingratiate him with the voters.

There’s an interesting post on the blog ‘The Lone Voice‘ highlighting a bit of Mann double talk.

There is a letter in this week’s Worksop Guardian entitled ‘Mann is just misleading us’

The letter is reproduced in full:

I see that MP John Mann has, yet again, been trying to mislead local residents over planning issues.

As both a local resident and planning professional, I get very irritated when straightforward processes are twisted for what I assume are political ends.

Maybe it’s an attempt to cover up the fact that he has no ideas of  his own about how he thinks his Government’s housing targets (that’s right – they’re imposed on local councils from above) should be met.

I’ve read the same documents he talks about, and they don’t show major development in the villages or propose this Kilton development he keeps banging on about.

So let’s keep things in perspective, shall we, and stop this underhand campaign of disinformation.

Just what we’ve been saying all along!

The recent ‘campaign’ by John Mann MP to stop closure of Serlby Park School by the Big Bad Tories was yet another example of ignoring the facts in favour of a bit of self-serving publicity.

Due to the  (at the time Labour Controlled)  County Council having an over-capacity of school places in Bassetlaw, the administration commissioned a report to look at ways to match places to demand. One of the options was closure of Serlby Park School. By Labour.

The current Conservative administration has removed any threat of closure of Serlby Park School as it was just not a viable option.

Mr Mann’s actions and disinformation led to an anxious time for parents and pupils in the area.

Remember this at the next election.

John Mann is claiming credit for being the whistleblower on the MPs expenses scandal in a recent article in the Mail.

Oh, really?

I am sure that John Wick, the man behind the expose, will be interested to hear that he needn’t have bothered since Mr Mann was already on the case.

For the TRUTH about the whole sorry affair, see http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/mps-expenses/5370852/John-Wick-I-am-proud-to-have-exposed-expenses-scandal.html

John Mann, MP for Bassetlaw and purveyor of political fiction, has got himself a nice line of patter to confuse the voters.

First, he invents a scenario which is never going to happen (such as the building of 10,000 houses at Kilton Forest) then starts a high volume campaign against it.

When, inevitably, the scenario does not come to fruition, Mr Mann claims credit for campaigning against it and a victory due to his endeavours opposing the mythical project.

Does he think that Bassetlaw voters can’t see through this?

However, new house building is a worry for Mr Mann as several thousand new residents arriving in Bassetlaw with the wherewithall to purchase housing  may well dilute the traditional Labour vote, making his position as an MP decidedly dodgy come election time.

So consider his real motives when he challenges new residential properties.