Scandal of MPs' expenses, part 2
Saturday, May 9, 2009 It gets worse. Reading the Telegraph this morning I found myself getting really quite angry. Unfortunately, it didn't last. Half an hour later I was my usual self. Resigned, perhaps, a little grumpy even, but not angry. Then, re-reading the paper for the purpose of this post, I felt my blood starting to boil again.
Where to start? Well, how about Barbara Follett (Labour) who claimed £25,000 for security patrols outside her house in Soho. (Or, in the paper's words, "Tourism minister feels unsafe in London".)
Then there's Keith Vaz (Labour) who "claimed more than £75,500 in expenses for a flat in Westminster despite his family home being a £1.15 million house just 12 miles from parliament".
And we mustn't forget Margaret Moran, Labour MP for Luton South, who spent £22,000 of taxpayers' money on treating dry rot in a holiday home in Southampton which is 100 miles from her constituency and a two-hour drive from parliament. According to the Telegraph:
During the period covered by the expenses claims published this week, Miss Moran first declared her second home as a flat in Westminster, a short walk from the House of Commons, where she installed a £4,756.40 new kitchen, fitted a £2,678 carpet and bought a bed worth £527.20. The following year, after she had the garden in her constituency home in Luton redone, at a cost of £2,350, she wrote to the fees office asking to switch her designation there ...
In Luton, she spent £1,823.09 on bathroom repairs and £212.50 on bedding, along with £200 of food, before apparently embarking on regular shopping trips to buy items ranging from Pollyfilla to wallpaper, paint and fitted bedroom units costing £1,207.50.
She also claimed £4,200 for decorators, and purchased three separate items of musical equipment, including a £699.95 music system. The extensive work to the home in Southampton ... came to just £1,722 less than the maximum allowable ...
How can this woman remain in parliament? Simple. Even the more outrageous claims have been approved by the fees office so, technically, no MP has committed an offence.
Another problem is, there seems to be no pressure from within parliament for any of these people to go. I haven't heard a single MP or party call for anyone's resignation. You can almost hear them muttering, "There but for the grace of God ...". No-one wants to be fingered as a hypocrite - or a traitor to their fellow MPs.
A further problem is boredom. Outside of Westminster, how many people are going to sift through page after page of this stuff, day after day? (I notice, by the way, that The Times is being very sniffy about "chequebook journalism" and "democracy". Could that have something to do with the fact that it was the Telegraph that got its hands on the leaked disk? Frankly, this is too big a story for any newspaper to ignore or downplay. I hope The Times isn't sulking because that wouldn't be of any help to democracy.)
If there are to be resignations - and I would disappointed if there are no direct casualties - the real pressure has to come at local level. Constituents must write to their local party and to their local paper. Local party members should think seriously about deselecting some MPs.
The regional media also has a role to play. Local newspapers, like regional television news, are sometimes mocked (unfairly) and looked down upon for the parochial nature of their stories. Now they have the best of both worlds - a local interest story that is part of a huge national scandal.
The resignation of an MP for false or immoral expense claims would reverberate throughout the country. The subsequent by-election would be national news. The effect on other MPs and the parliamentary system in general could be enormous.
The message to local journalists and broadcasters is this: if an MP in your region has made questionable expense claims, it is your duty to check the facts, follow it up, and inform your readers.
By all means allow the MP the right of reply. But constituents have an equal right to see all the relevant information so they can make an informed choice at the next election, if not before.
Is that too much to ask?
Reader Comments (5)
It is somehow infinitely wearying to read about all this.
But it speaks of a kind of corruption that has become endemic. After all, the Tories left office 12 years ago buried in sleaze. Now it emerges that Labour is just as bad, and that all will use their office to enrich themselves in small ways and large.
This is no longer a party political issue. The same thing has been happening with those bankers who were paying themselves huge bonuses and salaries while they mismanaged their banks.
We badly need a complete change of culture. The best suggestion that I've seen is that this scandal may provide an opportunity to get rid of the entire political class - Labour, Tories, and Liberals - and bring in a complete set of new people, people who have not been corrupted. Or at least not yet corrupted.
The current occupants of the seats of power have shown themselves to no longer deserve the trust that has been placed in them. They have ceased to act on behalf of the British people who put them in office, and instead act to advance their own interests or other special interests. One may see this in a smoking ban, in which, after 2 or 3 hours of shoddy debate, this parliament casually voted to make smokers stand outside. What callousness! What indifference! What contempt for a quarter of the population! Now we can see why. They were too busy lining their own pockets to consider carefully the people who voted for them.
If only Idlex, if only?
Imagine there's no corruption
It's easy if you try
No smoking ban or MPs
To tell us where and why
Imagine all the people
Living as they please
Imagine there's no scandals
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to moan or gripe for
And no Parliament too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace
You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one
Imagine no politicians
I wonder if you can
No more greedy bastards
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world
You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one
With apologies to the great John Lennon.
I think maybe the gravity of this situation is being played down the last time a political situation like this ocurred was in 1966 with the Wilson government.
We all know of the consequences of that .
This could be the start of a constitutional crisis.
The political and intelletual minnows we have endured for the last 12 years fail to realise the gravity of the situation their naivity has created.
The fail to realise the utter contempt and the fact they have lost all credibility.
Interesting times ahead I think.
There is a huge political vacuum at the moment.
Who will take the advantage of the said situation?
Perhaps her majesty the queen should dissolve parliament .
An election must be called .
This is big I feel it in my bones.
Definition of an MP:
Self imprortant usless Prig!
Shoot the lot!!
Idlex -
"They were too busy lining their own pockets to consider carefully the people who voted for them."
What was that our Ancestors said about the Devil's finding work for Idle Hands ?
Knew a thing or two - our Ancestors.
Peter -
Nice parody !
Not Lennon's greatest song, though: THAT was 'In My Life' (and he was only 24 when he wrote it).
Modern Politics, Modern Pop - both the same, really: Banal, Self-Indulgent, Lifeless, and with absolutely NOTHING to say.