Margaret(Enver) Hodge hired her former press officer for 'PR support'

Another commie using public money for propaganda....Margaret Hodge, the MP for Barking, claimed more than £2,200 for "PR support" from Chilli and Spice, a firm based in Chelmsford, Essex, between May and August 2007.

The company is run by Janet Coull, who worked as a press officer for Mrs Hodge when she was a junior employment minister between 1998 and 2001.

Under House of Commons rules, MPs are barred from claiming expenses for "self-promotion or PR" for individuals or political parties. Mrs Hodge insisted on Monday that she had paid Ms Coull for "articles, reports and speech writing", not PR.
However, receipts from Chilli and Spice submitted to the Commons fees office by Mrs Hodge specify that they provided "PR support".
"I employed Janet Coull when she was not a civil servant and have at all times conducted a purely professional relationship with her," said Mrs Hodge. Ms Coull could not be reached for comment last night.

In 2006, Mrs Hodge claimed £1,762 for "consultancy" from Scarlett MccGwire, a media trainer who was also, as the Daily Telegraph reported last week, hired on expenses by three current Cabinet ministers.

Mrs Hodge said that Miss MccGwire helped with "a difficult one-off office staff disciplinary issue" together with "a number of speeches and articles". Miss MccGwire could not be reached for comment last night.

Fails to support tourism in the UK, she likes Italy. She dislikes the Proms - not multicultural enough. She voted to kill off pubs by supporting the smoking ban. Voted for ID cards.

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