Posted by On Sunday, I received information from one of my sources that Gillingham and Rainham MP Paul Clark was in Twydall ‘looking for ’supporters’.
The instant reaction to this news has to be ‘he’ll be lucky’ – and for once I do not mean that in a partisan manner. Indeed all parties have been guilty of breaching the ’spirit of the rules’ in one way or another, if not the actual rules in some well-documented cases.
The problem has been caused by a mixture of both greedy MPs, and the seemingly laissez-faire attitude towards claims, many of which were allegedly agreed over ‘a drink and a smoke’. Although most MPs have not actually, it would appear, broken the rules, it is apparent after three weeks of revelations that these meetings were used to persuade fees office officials to look favorably on claims that may not have been entirely within the spirit of the rules.
An obvious result of the sleazy stench emanating from Westminster is an increased mistrust in all politicians – a bad reputation that will take years to recover. MPs looking for support are doing the right thing, if explaining their actions and apologizing at the same time, but sadly they are unlikely to discover too much sympathy along the way.
The backlash will be felt in Thursday’s local and European elections, when protest votes will likely be at an all-time high. Brown will order a reshuffle, Cameron will call for a general election to cleanse Parliament and Clegg will wave and shout from the sidelines like an under-11s football manager, eager for improvement but unable to achieve it.
All politicians are going about this the wrong way, though. Instead of blaming each other or the rules, they should be blaming themselves and their own greed.
Only then will people start to accept that they are sincere in their wish for change and begin to regain trust in their servants once more.
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