No Expenses Spared - Hardcover

Winnett, Robert; Rayner, Gordon

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0593065778 ISBN 13: 9780593065778

Publisher: Bantam Press, 2009

Synopsis

The Daily Telegraph’s expose of MPs' expenses, which dominated the news agenda for more than six weeks, made history by leading to the resignation of the Speaker and several Cabinet ministers, as well as taking Gordon Brown to the very brink of losing his grip on power.

It is a story which began in the unlikely setting of a Chilean vineyard, when Robert Winnett, the paper’s deputy political editor, first learnt from Gordon Brown's controversial aide Damian McBride, that a disk containing details of every MP's expense claims may have been obtained by a whistleblower.

Winnett was destined to become the reporter who would secure the disc and its contents for his newspaper, landing what has been described by some commentators as "the political scoop of the century". Together with Gordon Rayner, Winnett ran a team of reporters who pored through more than a million expenses documents. Astonishing details began to emerge: Gordon Brown's peculiar cleaning arrangements; Oliver Letwin's tennis court; Sir Peter Viggers' duck house; Douglas Hogg's £2,200 bill for cleaning his moat; house flipping and tax dodging; and the suggestion of deliberate fraud.

No Expenses Spared is the riveting inside story of the biggest political scandal to hit Parliament for a generation.

About this title

About the Author

Robert Winnett is the deputy political editor of the Daily Telegraph. During his 11-year career on Fleet Street, which started at the Sunday Times, he has been behind some of the country’s biggest political scoops including exposing the cash-for honours scandal under Tony Blair and Derek Conway’s controversial employment of his sons.

He has been short-listed for three “scoop of the year” awards at the British Press Awards and has won other prizes for his work. He has worked on some of the biggest stories including the global credit crunch and several British elections.

Gordon Rayner is Chief Reporter of the Daily Telegraph, a position he has held since joining the newspaper in 2007. He began his career at the Banbury Guardian before moving on to the Sun and later the Daily Mail, where he helped uncover one of the biggest scandals of Tony Blair's premiership by revealing the e-mails between Cherie Blair and the fraudster Peter Foster which proved No.10 had lied over the "Cheriegate" affair.

During his 14 years on national newspapers, Gordon has reported from more than 20 countries and covered many of the biggest stories of recent years, including the death of Princess Diana, the trial of Harold Shipman, the Soham murders, the 7/7 suicide bombings and the ongoing financial crisis.

From the Back Cover

'The biggest parliamentary scandal for two centuries.' - Gordon Brown, Guardian

'What the Daily Telegraph did - the simple act of providing information to the public - has triggered the biggest shake-up in our poliotical system for years.' - David Cameron, speech to the Tory Party

From the Inside Flap

The Daily Telegraph's expose of MPs' expenses, which dominated the news agenda for more than six weeks, made history by leading to the resignation of the Speaker and several Cabinet ministers, as well as taking Gordon Brown to the very bring of losing his grip on power.

It is a story which began in the unlikely setting of a Chilean vineyard, when Robert Winnett, the paper's deputy political editor, first learnt from Gordon Brown's controversial aide, Damian McBride, that a disk containing details of every MP's expense claims may have been obtained by a whistleblower.

Winnett was destined to become the reporter who would secure the disk and its contents for his newspaper, landing what has been described by some commentators as 'the political scoop of the century'. Together with Gordon Rayner, Winnett ran a team of reporters who pored through more than a million expenses documents. Astonishing details quickly began to emerge: Gordon Brown's peculiar cleaning arrangements, Oliver Letwin's tennis court, Sir Peter Viggers's duck house, Douglas Hogg's £2,200 bill for cleaning his moat, house flipping and tax dodging, and the suggestion of deliberate fraud.

No Expenses Spared is the riveting inside story of the biggest political scandal to hit Parliament for a generation.

Edition details

• Publisher: Bantam Press
• Publication date: 2009
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0593065778
• ISBN 13: 9780593065778
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 368