The Wardman Wire

What don’t our MPs get?
Top blogger Iain Dale is, as is so often, spot on when he asks “Do MPs Not Understand How They Are Viewed by the Public?” It seems a number of them either really do have no idea how their attitudes to their expenses and perks are viewed by the public or even worse, they simply do not care.

The Golden Parachute
The so called “golden parachute” that means many MPs will be paid a full year’s salary, currently £63,291, if they lose their seat in the Commons is patently rewarding failure. At a time when the public eye is watching what our elected representatives do with their perceived grubby little hands like never before, and at a time when redundancies and loss in pay threatens one of the worse economic disasters in 100 years, what do MPs do? They have deemed it appropriate to change the rules that say any MP who leaves parliament under the age of 50 receives six months’ salary, will now get up to 90% their annual salary.

Just because they can
What angers me is that this is just yet another example of MPs filling their pockets just because they can. Now I am not one of these people who think MPs should be on a minimum wage and I do understand they need second homes and the sort, but it is becoming more and more patently clear that while most of our MPs are operating inside of the rules, a good number of them are milking those rules for every penny they can get and it is damaging the public perception of politics and politicians in this country – something that is no good for anyone.

The rules are not working
The most obvious point here is that the rules are not working and are in desperate need for change. How can Jacqui Smith honestly sit there and claim £166,000 expenses when she apparently lodges with her sister in London for just a few months a year (so neighbours claim). Then we have Harriet Harman, who has to be one of the biggest hypocrites in government, the woman who tried to have MPs be exempt from certain areas of Freedom of Information. You can take the Lords who were caught up in the cash for amendments scandals. All these and many more have two things in common, they are all operating within the rules and they are all giving MPs a bad name.

MPs need a deserve a good wage
Yes MPs should be paid large salaries – if we want the best people and finest minds to run this country, Oxbridge graduates, captains of industry and the sort then they need to be rewarded and attracted to the very important jobs. MPs do need to spend money on travel, after all they need to go around their constituency and get to and from Westminster. We should not be surprised by the seemingly high costs they run up, it is the nature of the job.

Enough is enough
But no-one really honestly believes that taking some cash to get a Lord to try and get another Lord to act as an advocate is right and proper. No one really thinks that it is ok for MPs to be exempt from Freedom of Information. No seriously believes that an MP living with a family member for a couple days a week (or even 5 days a week for that matter) needs to claim six figure sums to pay for it. So why do they keep doing it? Because they can and because the only thing that can change the rules is an honest and open government who stands up and says enough is enough.

Norman Baker, crackers or spot on?
I happen to think Norman Baker is completely crackers half the time. His conspiracy theories on people such as Dr David Kelly and the Bilderberg group aligned with his almost obsessive nature of asking questions in parliament that makes even the most productive of opposition members look lazy are reason alone for me question his sanity sometimes.

But there is one thing that I admire this man for, more so than most of our MPs, and that is his tireless pursuit to get that someone with real power to stand and say enough really is enough. He may have some wild ideas, but as Matthew Parris has said in the past “You underestimate him at your peril. He has a habit of being right.” On the issue of transparency and openness amongst our elected officials, at the very least, I am absolute certain that he is right; and for that alone, Norman Baker I salute you.