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Weekly helps MP expenses video go viral

A weekly newspaper’s website story showing an MP being handed £7.20 to cover his expenses for attending a Remembrance Sunday service by a former Women’s Royal Navy officer has gone viral.

The North Devon Gazette story posted a video of former Wren Fiona Laing donating the cash to MP Sir Nick Harvey in response to a story that he claimed £7.20 in travel expenses to attend a Remembrance service in 2011.

Within minutes of the Archant South West title breaking the video and story, shares on Facebook began to rocket and by midnight the story had gone viral with more than 50,000 views.

It was reporter Sarah Howells who scoured Facebook for the original video after receiving a tip off from a reader and found it had already had hundred of shares.

The moment former Wren Fiona Laing hands MP Sir Nick Harvey £7.20 ‘for his expenses’

After speaking to Ms Laing, Sarah managed to obtain the footage, photos of the letter given to Sir Nick and quotes to add colour.

“I waited until the service was over and the parade was done,” Ms Laing told the paper.

“I marched across and introduced myself. I handed him the envelope and said I  would like to pay his expenses. He looked surprised.”

Over two days, the story has had 95,000 views, with more than 15,000 shares on Facebook and 88pc of traffic from social media – and counting.

The video on the Gazette’s YouTube channel also had more than 50,000 views, breaking records all round for the paper and proving the power of social media.

Ms Laing said she felt this was ‘an insult to those who had died’ and made the protest after the Remembrance Sunday parade in Barnstaple.

Sir Nick told the paper the expense claim was down to ‘human error’ and he wished to return the £7.20 to Ms Laing for her to donate to charity.

7 comments

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  • November 15, 2013 at 8:29 am
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    This is more of a concocted ‘stunt’ than a story…seems a bit fishy to me.

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  • November 15, 2013 at 10:28 am
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    By all means run the story. This story, however, should be titled ‘reporter looks at YouTube’ video and puts it on Twitter.

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  • November 15, 2013 at 11:23 am
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    Did the same title break the original story about the MP’s expenses claim, I wonder..?

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  • November 15, 2013 at 3:02 pm
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    Great story but as the posters above have said the headline “Weekly’s Remembrance Day expenses video..” is not correct.

    It is not the paper’s video. They only rehosted it, which they are right to do. And they are right to shout about their web hits, but should not claim it as their vid.

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  • November 15, 2013 at 4:29 pm
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    Thank you, I’d like to point out (as my colleague did but his comment was not published) that we never claimed the video to be ours – it clearly states on the video it is not ours, and the headline on this story was not one we wrote! Thank you for changing it. As for the comment by ‘Hmmm’, I think you’ll find I found the story on Facebook (not Youtube), contacted both the lady in the video and Nick Harvey, and then put it on our Youtube channel (not Twitter) where it was quickly spread through Facebook. I’m all for criticism but please get your facts correct…

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  • November 20, 2013 at 1:33 pm
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    A great story and, for once, a good deed by an MP. But I can’t stand all the “holier than thou” moralists who seek to pick holes in it whilst seeking an ulterior motive,

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