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MT editor Matthew Gwyther's take on the burning business issues of the day.

Editor's blog: MP expenses are a dangerous distraction   

I steer clear of politics in MT, and not simply because our boss used to be Deputy Prime Minister and now sits in the Lords. But this diabolical hoo-hah about MPs' expenses requires some small comment.

1. You pay peanuts and you will get manipulative monkeys. The MPs' stipend of sixty-three grand a year wouldn’t persuade a GP, small-town solicitor or even middle-to-upper-ranking social worker to get out of bed in the morning. If you regard being a Member of Parliament as an important role in society – which I do – you have you pay them properly. You cannot make them fiddle – within the daft existing rules – to gather together a proper wage. It’s a bad system.

2. The run-of-the-mill out-of town MPs I’ve come across lead fairly miserable lives, separated from their families during the week and kicking their heels in the shark-infested Westminster hurly-burly. Taking part in tedious votes at all hours of the evening. They have to lay their heads somewhere. and there is no MPs' dormitory. They cannot sleep on the Embankment or occupy the odd free bed over the river at St Thomas’s.    

3. It is in nobody’s interest that the democratic process in Britain is regarded by the general population with contempt and ridicule. Just ask those in Zimbabwe or Burma or China who cannot vote freely what they think about us behaving in this way. Sneering at and turning our backs on such a privilege. The expenses mess needs sorting out, but it is time-wasting indulgence to allow ourselves to be so completely diverted by it while there are infinitely more important things to attend to. There are plenty of UKIP nutters and BNP boot-boys who are regarding the furore surrounding Oliver Letwin’s tennis court repairs with sly glee, and who will be looking to reap a rich electoral reward at the polls. 


By an amusing coincidence, I spent yesterday morning with a journalist who used to work on the Telegraph, which has paid a large sum to buy all this stolen information (£300,000, some say) from a disloyal miscreant, and is now expecting a visit from the boys in blue. This now ex-journalist was reminiscing about the days when he was able to add £250 each week to his – very reasonable - salary by making up billable meals with fictitious contacts and filling in blank taxi receipts. The sort of behaviour that would make even Barbara Follett and Alan Duncan blush.


In today's bulletin:
Recovery hopes surge as Easter eggs on retail sales
Businesses landed with higher minimum wage
Enterprise Inns spends millions propping up its own bars
Why UK shoppers still don't trust the internet
Editor's blog: MP expenses are a dangerous distraction

Published May 11 2009, 04:56 PM by matthew gwyther
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All Comments

william haseldine May 12, 2009
I agree with the peanuts comment - BUT aren't they in charge of setting their own salaries/ allowances? The fact they thought they could take us for mugs, hoping we wouldn't notice the allowance abuse, speaks volumes for how they view the voters. Surely HMRC have rules about allowances for company executives "..separated from their families during the week .."? If MPs adopted these rules (and paid tax on any balancing benefits in kind), THEN we would have joined up thinking.
Ross Fitzsimons May 12, 2009
I agree with much of what you say, but the contempt many MPs have shown for their employers (us!) suggest that many of them have committed what in other jobs would amount to gross misconduct and lead to immediate dismissal. This is a management issue, not just a political or ethical one. We should not have to get distracted from the political and economic crisis we find ourselves in by the venal and self-serving behaviour of many MPs. By all means pay them fairly, but many of those now in receipt of parliamentary salaries will lose them soon, based on the current revelations. The contempt many have shown for the public purse also devalues the state itself. How can HMRC ask me to pay my share of tax if the legislators take that tax and spend it on chandeliers, tennis court repairs or Aga servicing costs? It is therefore also in nobody's interest if the tax system is regarded with contempt by anyone - the UK will suffer if people think "they're all doing it, why don't we?". I have no objection to recompensing fair expenses to MPs, but the obvious glee shown recently by Alan Duncan (to name but one) on television at the opportunity afforded him by the system to enrich himself at the public expense was pretty disgusting. Hazel Blears' defence was no more edifying. I reckon they will both lose their seats regardless of their parties' fortunes in the coming election. We are all the poorer for this scandal, except of course those MPs who have made six-figure gains at our expense - and will also receive healthy parliamentary pensions to add to their directorships and consultancies when the electorate sack them.
Jeff Allen May 12, 2009
I fully agree our MPs should be properly renumerated and that a clear system is put in place. Until such time however I agree with others here that fiddling expenses would amount to gross misconduct in most companies and lead to being fired and as it is taxpayers money the Police should be investigating ALL MPs that have abused the system not simply the leak of the information if Parliment is not to be compared with shady African nations. The Editor may well be right that more important issues need addressing but they need to be addressed by people we trust & respect not by thoses "playing" the syste.
Malcolm Rose May 12, 2009
I have never felt more ashamed or disgusted by our MPs actions. We live in a country that has lost any sense of integrity and MPs, of all people, should provide some kind of leadership in this respect. Yes they should be paid the right amount for the job, but the fact that they feel underpaid is only a consequence of pervasive greed outside of parliament. Growing inequalities are corrosive and threaten the stability of the country. I favour immediate dissolution of parliament and an unpaid recess to give MPs time to reflect on their moral bankruptcy. Meanwhile the European Parliament could manage our affairs!
Malcolm Rose May 12, 2009
I have never felt more ashamed or disgusted by our MPs actions. We live in a country that has lost any sense of integrity and MPs, of all people, should provide some kind of leadership in this respect. Yes they should be paid the right amount for the job, but the fact that they feel underpaid is only a consequence of pervasive greed outside of parliament. Growing inequalities are corrosive and threaten the stability of the country. I favour immediate dissolution of parliament and an unpaid recess to give MPs time to reflect on their moral bankruptcy. Meanwhile the European Parliament could manage our affairs!
Lawrence May 12, 2009
I agrre with all of the above and would add two further comments. Most of my working life and even now in my 70's, I have needed to spend a considerable amount time away from home due to my work - salesman. The tax authorities allow me food and accommodation when away from home and that's it! Inexpensive pleasures such as a relaxing drink listening to my music etc. are not available AND there is no compensation - but then that's my job, I knew that at the begining! Likewise, when I've choosen to change my job, I've had to consider moving my home. In my working life I've lived in Essex (where I was born), London, Sussex & Yorkshire. Again that was my choice,I did not expect anybody to pay me to continue to maintain my existing house when my place of work changed "because I must have a home life", as one MP put it when questioned about her 'home' many miles from her constituancy, I moved! If one wants the job, then one has to make some sacrifices.
J Potter May 13, 2009
You miss the whole point with this issue. Its a matter of trust. If they cant be trusted at this level of expenditure how can you trust them with the larger sums they control. Whatever your feel the public feel that they are not working for us, but working the system for themselves. As a previous poster puts allowances away from home are controlled, as much by what HM Revenue will allow. How this gets past them I dont know... if its the fact its MPs and they have special dispensation then THAT is wrong and should be corrected. One rule for all.... Yes pay them a reasonable wage.... maybe that and NO expenses but at the end of the day politics has a degree of 'social benefit' built into it, like nursing. If its the career and make as much money as possible model which is going to attract then perhaps what we currently have as an MP job description with rewards is wrong.
evan millner May 24, 2009
I agree that is you pay peanuts, you will get monkeys. On the other hand, if you pay too much, you attract gold diggers.....The City of London's Common Council attracts very high calibre people as Common Councilmen, but does not pay them anything at all (just as used to be the case with MP's), nor do they get more than a bare minimum of expenses........I think the expenses system needs to end. The Common council keeps a suite of rooms in the Guildhall, that are well appointed, but basic, for members who have to overnight in London. Parliament can do something similar. However, disgraced MP's should not be allowed to stay on in Parliament like a bad smell - they must resign their seats, and leave parliament immediately - the only reason they want to stay on, is so they can pick up a large lump sum cheque.....These dodgy MP's must get the boot NOW. They don't deserve £64,000 in "resettlement grant" cash. Do they? The Jury Team http://juryteam.org are putting up candidates in ALL constituencies for the EU elections. Jury Team candidates stand for good governance. it has concrete policies, that are all to do with fixing the broken political system. 1. Get as many independents elected as possible - force the government to justify its policies, and to present reasoned argument for them - not relying on the whip, which turns Parliament into an extension of the executive. 2. Get Chairmen of the committees elected by secret ballot, so stop the whips controlling the appointments. 3. Selection to committees by voting, not by appointment. No whipping to be allowed. 4. No members of the government at all to be allowed to sit on committees in parliament. for more detail, see the main Jury Team website. http://juryteam.org To interact with the candidates and other supporters, visit our new social networking site http://juryteam.socialgo.com and http://juryteam.ning.com Promoted by Evan Philip Millner and other candidates on behalf of Jury Team at 152 Grosvenor Road, London, SW1V 3JL.
 
 
 
 

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