I never thought I'd hear myself asking this question but are Stephen Fry, Ann Widdecombe and myself the last three remaining sane people in the United Kingdom?
I'm no apologist for politicians but I'm struggling to understand the level of hysteria surrounding the MPs' expenses issue.
Apart from rare individual cases that look dangerously close to corruption (like tonight's revelation that one MP claimed £16000 in mortgage interest on a property that he no longer owned), I don't see what most of these people have done wrong.
Let me get this straight. To help me understand the general indignation, and to keep this simple, I need an answer to this one question: Are people saying that in their position they would have behaved differently from the MPs?
To me, that's the heart of the matter. If people are saying that they would behave differently, then fair enough, I understand the wrath. If people are saying no, their rage is against the system and the rules, then fine, let's change the system and the rules, but why are we castigating the MPs for doing what the system allowed them?
Tomorrow's headline: FRY ENCOURAGES PUBLIC TO VOTE BNP!
Marcus Brigstocke made a very similar rant (that the media is more culpable than the MPs) a couple of weeks ago.
I tend to agree with SF, MB and EG. But there have been several reports of repeatedly changing the designated second home in order to milk the system, which I feel would require a temporary ethics bypass to carry off.
I guess this is a reminder that almost all of our dedicated public servants are self-interested humans too. In most cases, the self-interest is beneficial -- MPs' primary goal is to get re-elected, and therefore they work to please their constituents. But you tend to get called a cynic for saying things like that.
You're right that the system is at fault. I think most people around the country who claim business expenses are snorting "I would never claim for cat food!" -- but that's because their expenses are properly scrutinised.
By the way, my car aerial has been broken for several months, and I'm typically hearing news 1-2 times a week at most. I don't feel that my quality of life has been reduced.
Good reply -- I expect a rougher ride from someone soon.
Not sure if the cat food was a real example, but agreed that this would be excessive. But there was an MP on the radio this morning for instance, getting a hard time from Nicky Campbell because he had claimed for the cost of buying an iron for his London house. As the MP pointed out, what's the alternative? Is he expected to carry an iron back and forward in his briefcase every time he goes back to his constituency? If they are allowed to rent or buy a London property then they have to equip the place reasonably.
As for things like gardening expenses and other claims that have come under scrutiny, you can well imagine how these come about. I can imagine new MPs, chatting to longer-toothed colleagues, asking for clarification on what the procedures are, and being told that they are allowed all sorts of things. If the system has allowed them to claim for gardening expenses, then so be it. Perhaps the system is wrong, rather than people who simply fit in with it. If I was an MP I would have done the same, once I'd asked around and found out what was allowed and what wasn't.
There is a definite line that shouldn't be crossed though. I suspect we'll see Elliot Morley in court, and very possibly in prison, for what appears to be a prima facie case of fraud. I offer no defence there, though I guess we should give him the courtesy of due process.
And I have a new ally -- David Aaronovitch whose writing in The Times and elsewhere I like. This is worth a read on 'Moatgate':
Short reply as in a noisy Glasgow pub close to Gallowgate and don't wish to get lynched.
1) biggest problem I have is with the bloated toads in the expose-gorged Rat Pack. Should HST still walk amongst us suspect he wd line up with messrs Fry & Gordo.
2) the reason MPs attract such indignation, much of it hypocritically 'moral', is they so often choose to stand on a ticket of self righteous propriety, siting the loathsome amoral behaviour of the incumbant constituency member even as they gather their own nest feathers.
Like EG I can't stand apart and say I would have acted differently.
There again, I never would have stood (for election by my peers) at all.
God bless Norman Baker, Lib Dem, Lewes
A man apart.
The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph
My own MP, Martin Salter (Reading West), also comes out of it with credit. He's one of a tiny handful of MPs living outside London who hasn't claimed for a second house in London. He commutes daily to Westminster.
I agree that there's plenty of raw material for charges of hypocrisy. "Do as I say, not as I do". I'd like to think I wouldn't have had the brass neck to keep switching primary and secondary residence, which seems to have been used as a mechanism to become part-time property developers, but count me in for the £1000 TV -- to help me conduct political research of course. Nothing to do with Match of the Day, honest :o.
El Gordo
Great things are done when men and mountains meet.
As a rule, the people who want power are those who are least to be trusted with it. The model for me is a modified version of 5th century BC Athenian democracy, where participation in politics and the administration of justice is a citizen's duty, and every adult is expected to play a part in it, through involvement in assemblies and holding public office . I would modify the Athenian system by allowing women and slaves to take part, and by adopting Lenin's dictum that no one serving the state should be paid more than a cook's wage.
Would that stop corruption? Probably not. But it might be a better control on it.
Does anyone know how the marathoning MPs do in the expenses stakes? 10 MPs who want to run are guaranteed a place. No ballot for them, which to my mind is much more unjust than any amount of moat-cleaning at public expense. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/po...017098.stm
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