Ex-minister Denis MacShane mutters 'quelle surprise' as he is jailed for six months over expenses fiddle

 
Jailed: ex Labour minister Denis MacShane
Former British Labour Party MP Denis MacShane arrives at the Old Bailey court in central London on December 23, 2013 for sentencing after pleading guilty to falsely claiming thousands of pounds in parliamentary expenses. MacShane was sentenced to six mont
23 December 2013
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Disgraced ex-Labour minister Denis MacShane was jailed for six months today for making nearly £13,000 in bogus expense claims.

The ex-MP for Rotherham muttered “quelle surprise” as he was led to the cells.

MacShane, 65, had pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey last month to false accounting by filing 19 fake receipts for “research and translation” services over three years. He spent the money on a series of trips to Europe, including one to judge a literary competition in Paris.

Four of the fake invoices were submitted while he was Minister for Europe in Tony Blair’s Government and the rest when he was a backbencher.

Prosecutors accepted he had no intention of making a personal profit, but Mr Justice Sweeney told him: “You have no one to blame but yourself.

“There was deliberate, oft-repeated and prolonged dishonesty over a period of years.”

MacShane was also ordered to pay £1,500 costs after more than four years in which his expenses have been under intense scrutiny.

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