Michael Portillo.

OK I guess I missed him doing that and thanks to Red for the link.

Somewhere in the yard high pile of letters in the office I have one from him, from his days as one of Norman Lamont's underlings (Secretary of State To The Treasury I think he was). Norman had just delivered the budget that included a requirement for government prime contractors to "pay their subcontractors in thirty days" (this never made it to the speech but was one of the extras in the full budget document). As an IT consultant subcontracting directly to a prime contractor developing the plant control and monitoring software for Torness Power Station, who was on a contract giving the bastards SIXTY days and over which the scium were dragging their feet and were now one hundred and ninety days overdue, owing me thirty six thousand pounds, I was delighted to hear this.

I very, VERY quickly faxed my then MP the Labour backbencher Paul Flynn asking him of he would be interested in asking the chancellor during the budget debate when his constituent (i.e. ME) could expect payment of the thirty six thousand pounds I had been owed for more than six times the new 30 day limit. I sent the invoices to prove the debt and sat back.

Mr Flynn was indeed delighted to put this to Lamont and the televised broadcast from the house showed Mr Flynn standing up and waving a piece of paper i recognised at once as being my letterhead. It was the second time Paul Flynn had acted on something I contacted him about, and as the ONLY MP who has ever done anything for me it was for this reason I mourned his passing a few years ago.

Norman Lamont was of course utterly buggered by this and was completely unable to answer the question and was made to look the pratt he was

About a fortnight later I received a letter from Portillo telling me that the budget statement regarding the requirement for prime contractors to pay their subcontractors inside a time limit was no more than an aspiration in hope they would adopt those recommendations as guidelines, but where custom and practice differed it was not the government policy to impose something other than this, and that my obvious recourse in this situation of non payment was the courts.

A few months later Lamont played his game of chicken with Soros, interest rates hit 23 % and I walked off site to throw myself in the river.

I decided to rung my accountant first and advise he would not be getting his £1000 fee. When he asked whuy I said "well, if you can get my £38,000 plus VAT from this client, you can have your £1000 inc vat".

He transferred me to his wife who dictated a letter to me and made me promise to bring the case back to her to pursue if nothing came of it.

The letter was to the Chairman of the Board of the company owing me the money, and another to the Financial Director, advising them that I had heard from their Chief Account that they were unable to meet my currently overdue invoices to the sum of £x, and that surely I had heard this incorrectly and there was some mistake. I then invited them to rectify this error by sending me a remittance of the sum due, in full, by first class post, in default of which i would have no option but to contact the Inland Revenue and inform them they were trading insolvently.

I sent this off with little hope of any response.

On Monday morning the postman brought me two cheques by recorded delivery settling the entire sum due. This was 8:15am thank god

Following my accountant's instructions I drove like a man posessed to Holinwood, Lancs, the address of the bank upon which the cheques were drawn, and paid them over the counter there into my own bank (paying the 50p per cheque fee) and sat back and prayed

Those in the know will understand that by this action the payment cleared the client company account at 3:30pm and the payment could not then be stopped

The money was credited to my account and cleared two days later.

Two days after THAT I received a letter from my bank telling me that the bank upon which the cheques were drawn had issued an instruction to stop both of them, which of course could not be enacted as the cheques has been cleared past the point they could be stopped by the time the instruction was received.

So I got my money in the end, others who were less prompt to act did not. I tried warning them.     

Here is Portillo and Neil doing a weird Tory dance. Very telling that Caroline Flint joined in.

Of course, Bobby didn't join in because Neil didn't like what Bobby had to say, so he cut him off and went to his crony Portillo. In effect, Neil cancelled him.

Bobby described Neil as arrogant, rude and smug. About right I think.