With Moneygeddon in full swing and the media wanting to cash in on the ills of the economy, the sensible question people are asking is “what are our elected representatives spending our money on?”. Unfortunately, as is the case with many sensible debates, they get chewed up and spat out as an ultimate witch-hunt of anybody that has ever dared claim expenses (the “all politicians are corrupt money-grabbing bastards” brigade).
As a councillor I have never claimed expenses. Some people say to me that doing so is stupid as I have an entitlement to claim, which is technically correct (I am entitled to it), but is also where the problem lies.
I went into politics, like most others, because I wanted to change things. I didn’t like the way things were – they were unfair, unjust, and unequal. This is the (unfortunately clichéd) reason practically everybody gives when asked why they became a councillor/MP. We identify where the law is wrong and we change it.
So, with this being the case, why is it that MPs will harp on all the time about laws they don’t like and laws they want to change, yet when they get caught with their hands (legally) in the cookie jar, they simply hide behind the law and claim innocence? It is this moral hypocrisy that stirs up so much anger and resentment within the public, and what caps it is the red-handed red-faced “I didn’t do anything wrong” response. If they went into politics to tackle things that were wrong, then they absolutely should accept that on occasion, laws can be wrong.
So let’s take hypothetically Jacqui Smith’s situation with the porn (I never thought I’d see the words ‘porn’ and ‘Jacqui Smith’ in the same sentence). Avoiding the saucy connotations, porn is (as far as objective analysis is concerned) an item or service of leisure. It is not required for a Member of Parliament to complete their duties, and rightly so, when the story came out a huge fuss was made over it.
But what about a BBQ and a patio heater? Are those items really required for the Home Secretary to do her job? Although the debate is contentious, some people do accept the need for essential furnishings in a second home (i.e. a cooker and a bed), but surely, like the porn, items such as a BBQ and a patio heater come under the label of “items or services of leisure”?
MPs of all parties can (and have) abused the expenses system. During a recession it is vital that an MP has the resources to do their job properly, but it is similarly important for the reputation of elected representatives that those who are caught abusing the system are swiftly dealt with in the harshest of manners. In any other walk of life, many of those MPs would have been sacked for the fiddling. There is no reason why this shouldn’t be the case in Parliament.
Tags: expenses, home secretary, Jacqui Smith, sleaze
