Just received a letter from John Mann threatening me with a libel action. Click on the graphic below to see it full size.

I don’t recall making any allegations, John, only asking for clarification and pointing to expenses claims on your own website and the Parliamentary website.

If you could point me in the direction of the offending untruth, I would be happy to rectify.

And as for calling you a ‘wanker’, I was just quoting your own statement in the Independent.

I note that you’re not disputing the rest of the content.

I know you’ve sent a number of this type of letter recently to anyone with the temerity to challenge the world according to Mann, but this blog will not be intimidated.

John Mann, always keen to get his name in the media, recently aired his views to the BBC regarding a Tory MP travelling First Class on the train.

MPs need to get out of this mindset that, somehow, we are above the general public, that we are special. Travelling second class keeps you in touch with the general public

A laudible sentiment, except that Mr Mann has been quite happily travelling First Class on the trains himself, as is quite obvious by his expenses claims. See this

We were also sent the following in an email by one of our readers.

Mann actually lives in North Wheatley, just a short drive from Retford which is his usual commuting station. He has been seen comfortably settled in First Class, including on the occasion when he sat in my friend’s pre-booked seat. My friend’s wife didn’t want him to make a fuss during the trip, but he did introduce himself as they both alighted at Retford, as “the guy whose seat you’ve been parked in since London”. Clearly no manners either Mr Mann, not when you’re so very important.

Caught out again, John.

Parliament has published a list of expenses repayments made  by MPs in the period 1st April, 2009 to 18th December, 2009. You can see it for yourself here

There are two entries for Mr Mann and each has a comment added by Mr Mann.

We’ll happily accept the comment on the £10.36 grocery bill, but the other, for £2,395.02, is a bit harder to swallow.

Rather than alter published totals, I have chosen to repay the full amount.

Eh? Rather than alter published totals?? Right. Kiss off £2,300 to avoid inconveniencing a computer.

Is this the same John Mann who, on his website, is asking for donations of a fiver to help fund his election campaign?

Perhaps he is keen to avoid further scrutiny of the actual expenses claimed and is willing to lose the money to cover up something he’d rather the voters did not know.

You would have thought that a proper course of action would have been to reclaim the amounts to prove that they were, in fact, legitimate.  He’s entitled to the money. Isn’t he?

If Mr Mann wishes to give us an account of the expenses, we’ll publish it for all to see. He is, after all, the first one to start screaming at any hint of impropriety in expenses claims and should welcome the opportunity to clarify the situation.

We’ll leave you to decide what to believe.

John Mann, the self-appointed, self-serving, self-righteous scourge of the expenses claimants who made allegations of wrongdoing by Alan Duncan, today got criticised by the Commons Standards and Priveleges Committee  for his lack of courtesy in going to the media before Mr Duncan or the Commissioner with his complaint. The Committee found that Mr Duncan had acted entirely within the rules and Mann’s allegations were unfounded.

Running his mouth off to the press is a favoured pastime of John Mann, earning him the sobriquet of Rent-a-Quote. The fact that his comments are often without foundation bothers him not a jot as long as he can see his name in print or his smirking face on the telly.

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.

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.

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