Breaking The Mould

Following on from News addiction, whilst The Telegraph may have done us all a favour by showing us who our elected representatives really are, the original story is running out of steam. There may be new "revelations" on a daily basis, but the message that our M.P.s have been engaged in wholesale misbehaviour got through a week ago. There are a couple of points here.

First, the M.P.s who say they have done nothing wrong by claiming, as those claims were approved as being within the rules, may be legally right but are morally wrong. A plasma T.V. is not essential to the conduct of parliamentary business. It is not, therefore, a morally justified business expense, even if the "watchdog" approves it. These M.P.s either lack a moral compass or choose to ignore it and are therefore unfit to govern and should be summarily dismissed.

Second are those, like our own in Gloucester (so far anyway) who not only seem to be doing their job, but have not abused the system. This is where further enquiry would be justified. Didn't they know what the others were up to, and by turning a blind eye to it, weren't they tacitly condoning it? If so, you might argue, they have failed in their duty and also deserve to be slung out of office. Without inside knowledge of the day-to-day running of the "Westminster Village", it is difficult to guess how genuinely innocent this second group, or individuals within it, are.

For instance, can we believe that none of this group knew that some of their colleagues claimed second home expenses for property barely closer to Westminster than their "main" homes? Didn't some of them wonder how their colleagues could afford to finance lavish lifestyles both in London and at their country mansions? They may say not, and as they haven't worked the system to their advantage we may have to give them the benefit of the doubt. But that doubt remains.