Some jokes write themselves...

[DanaC]

As the Mother of Parliaments disappears under a tide of gravy, some of the expense claims put forward by our parliamentarians are worthy of note.

For those not preoccupied with the ins and outs of Whitehall, by which I mean mainly the Merkins, the background is this: MPs are paid a wage (65k for an MP and about 140k for a minister I think) and also have access to a system of allowances and expenses. Sme of these are very reasonable imo; for example, an MP whose constituency is far away from Parliament is able to claim assistance with the cost of a second home (or rental/overnight stay). This amounts to approximately 26k in mortgage interest payments per annum (though not all who claim for second homes claim that amount). Some of the expenses are...not so reasonable. Such as being able to claim up to £400 a month in food.

The system of allowances and expenses is complex (needlessly so) and not entirely honest in its goals. Every so often the idea is floated that actually our polticians are paid very little compared to many countries and in fact work very hard (in most cases) for that money. Unfortunately, few countries value their politicians less than the UK. Consequently any attempt to raise MPs pay to the level they feel they deserve to be paid runs instantly aground on the rocks of public opinion. So much so that it rarely gets spoken of beyond a few tentative whispers. Instead...the expenses and allowances system is made to stand the weight of the difference between what MPs feel they are worth and what the People are prepared to pay them.

So...we have an expenses and allowances system which is culturally designed to be abused, or at the very least stretched.

The birds are home to roost now. The last two weeks have seen a series of damaging revelations by a national newspaper who has managed to get hold of the unexpurgated expense claims of large numbers of prominent MPs of all parties.

No party has come out of this well. The level of public trust in public servants has never been lower.

But there are a handful of smiles to be had. For instance... If you are the leader of an opposition party who has historically been associated with the ruling elite in a country as class riddled as Britain, and as leader of that party you are fighting a rearguard action against your own core members to try and recast your party as a party for all... how badly do you not need one of your party (named Hogg) to be caught out having his moat cleaned at public expense? :P


All we need now is a cleaning bill for his top hat and we're all set for the new look common man's tory party