Tuesday 12 May 2009

The Shit Keeps on Flying..

Another day and another set of revelations about MP's expenses - for the second day running, it is the Conservatives who are taking the brunt and David Cameron has been forced back on the defensive and Gordon Brown has earned a temporary reprieve.

A poll in today's Times suggests both main parties have been damaged by this and the Liberal Democrats have gained ground. I don't expect this to last.

I strongly suspect there will be damaging revelations about BOTH the Liberal Democrats and the minor parties in the coming days.

No one emerges with any credit from this fiasco and the need for radical and transparent change to the way MPs are supported is overwhelming and immediate.

It's possible the BNP, UKIP, the Greens and others will gain political advantage from this in the run-up to the European elections but in the end it is the political process as a whole that is the loser.

My thought this morning is that it is perhaps time to consider, if not fixed-term Parliaments, then limitations on time served for MPs. It is in effect a job for life if you land yourself a "safe" seat and it may be time to say that no one should serve more than three Parliaments as an MP. This might bring much-needed experience of the "real" world into both parties and the Commons itself.

The problem is that it is all very well claiming you can clean the Augean stables but spend enough time in the stable and you get used to the smell.

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