Role of Dishonour

Most MPs have now grasped the scale of the public's anger over their expense claims but I suspect the political storm still can still bring plenty of mayhem yet. The widespread nature of the avarice has perversely provided the guilty with a small degree of collective cover nationally but locally there is no hiding place. Even my timid local press felt emboldened to hammer John Gummer for the £9,090 he claimed for clearing moles and other critters from his Suffolk estate.

The lowlights over the weekend have included Luton South MP Margaret Moran claiming her second-home as a property in Southampton. Her defence that the house was necessary to "sustain her work" was not even substantial enough to describe as paper-thin.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/mps-expenses/5305166/Margaret-Moran-claims-were-necessary-MPs-expenses.html

One of the biggest jaw-droppers came from massively wealthy Barbara Follett - not the £25k spent on security outside her Soho townhouse, but the £900 spent on insurance for her fine art paintings. Let's not forget Tory James Gray who claimed for a Remembrance Day wreath. Real classy, Jim.

Speaker Martin had the opportunity today to remind all Members of their duties to the public, to restore the integrity of the House etc. But instead he lost his temper with Norman Baker (pictured, pulling an honest pint) and Kate Hoey for suggesting that dragging the Met into Parliament again was bound to be waste of everyone's time. Martin's words to Baker who had actually raised a different point, "another member who is keen to say to the press what the press wants to hear" was particularly ill-judged. The Lib-Dems appear to be the only party who have displayed some degree of discipline over its members' expenses by ensuring their outer London members claim no second homes. Baker himself has led a lonely fight against the covetous and grasping MPs for some years.

In July, he spoke in favour of the comprehensive checking of members' expense claims, "to put audits on the same basis as other public bodies." Of course, the vote for strengthening controls was lost. Sir Patrick 'Curly' Cormack (Stafford) wanted at the time for the record to show, "the behaviour of the vast majority of members has been entirely proper". Oh, who could doubt it, Pat?

Don Touhig (Islwyn) asserted wildly such audits would cost, "millions of pounds" and would be a "waste of public money." He must be feeling a right Charlie now.

Naturally the party in power will suffer the most in public support from this catastrophic loss of trust in Parliament. The first opinion poll in MoS put Labour on 23%, their lowest ever poll in the history of polling. Even Michael 'Donkey Jacket' Foot scraped 29% in the 1983 election.

Phil 'Canute' Woolas was also singled out by Auntie Telegraph following his cack-handedness over the Gurkhas. His expense claim for nappies, kids comics and horrible wine was more pathetic than serial offending. However, unable to gauge the political temperature, as usual, he blamed the newspaper, calling the article "disgusting" and "actionable" based on information which was "stolen property".

Woolas exemplifies where Labour are now; impervious, defiant, arrogant, doomed.