[patsylimerick]

Originally Posted by Livia

The expenses scandal did go unexposed for years, I agree. I have to say though that the majority of MPs were completely in the clear. In fact, very few broke the law, or there would have been more prosecutions. While some MPs, while acting legally, did milk the system, many did not. A couple of the MPs I work with published their expenses online every year long before the expenses scandal broke.

Since the scandal, the way MPs claim expenses has changed radically and it’s now controlled by IPSA – the Independent Parliamentary Standard Authority. What this now means is that MPs can still claim for almost everything they used to claim for, but the paperwork is much more complicated and much more evidence has to be provided. The ones who are actually being penalised are MPs staff who now have double the work to do on expenses while finding it much more difficult and complicated to claim expenses themselves.

I also think they should be “above it all” but the trouble with that is that they are human beings. What’s more, aside from the expenses they (legally) claim, MPs earn around about £60,000. The responsibility they take is massive, and they could be out on their ear in four years or sooner if things go drastically wrong. In terms of a managerial salary in industry, £60k isn’t even middle management. That means that a political career is much more attractive to people who already come from money and is less attractive to someone who is working class or middle class, who with a good education can earn a lot more elsewhere.

Having said all that, I could easily pick out 20% of them who should be up against the wall come the revolution.

Completely agree with this. The reality is that politicians park their life on the footpath when they step over the gateway into public life. They are always, always, always on call - accountable, exposed and under intense scrutiny. Of course there are those who are on an ego trip - but I actually think most of those don't last very long. They workload is too overwhelming and the demands too high. I would love if there was a fly on the wall documentary that followed the life and times of an MP for a month. These people are expected to be in Parliament, in their constituency, at every funeral, sporting event, social event, charity event, conference, briefing session, committee meeting, internal committee meeting and basically every dogfight relevant to their constitutency or party on a weekly basis. On top of which, they have to familiarise themselves with and possibly speak on dozens of pieces of new legislation every week, deal with a contant flood of constituency queries and appeals for assistance, draft parliamentary questions and contribute to policy direction.

The problem is that the general public have not the vaguest concept of how extraordinarily challenging a life in politics is. It somehow suits the collective consciousness to assume that they are lazy money-grabbing narcissists.