Another snout in the parliamentary trough

Another day, another probable case of corruption. This time a Tory. Is anyone honestly surprised anymore?

Corruption and law breaking is increasingly the norm amongst our elected law makers. The litmus test for being a candidate in the Labour Deputy Leadership race, for example, now seems to have been a willingness to take illegal donations rather than harbouring any desire for the role. We no longer look at the members of our government and asking "are they corrupt?" - the question in our modern age is more "when are they going to be caught out?"

The system is rotten to the deeply putrid core of the worthless edifice squatting on the banks of the Thames, and this putrid core is self perpetuating. Because only the terminally greedy or the staggeringly vain would seek elected office in this country, given the massive amounts of media coverage and the soul destroying hoops anyone has to jump through to get elected. We are not attracting the best of the best into our government - at a time when we need the best more than ever. Those who seek power are amongst the least worthy of wielding that power. The system is weighted towards attracting the dregs to the very top - so why would we end up with anything other than the worst at the top?

We need radical change - we need to rip the heart out of this bloated cadaver of a parliamentary system and start again. We point to examples in the developing world and in the former Soviet bloc and decry their corruption, at the same time as tutting then turning a blind eye to examples in our own country. We should be demanding the resignation of Johnson, Harman, Conway, and any other person who would dare to use their time as a servant of the people for their own gain. We should be marching on Downing Street, demanding Brown calls the election and seeks a mandate for his elevation to Number 10 from someone, rather than taking his position in a bloodless coup. We should be sending people into the Commons who want to make it accountable, and to give back all the powers and freedoms to the people that have been taken from them by the government for no acceptable reason.

Because the system isn't going to change by itself. Those in power are happy with the influence, perks and loopholes that they have. I believe the majority of people in the Commons were elected for purely selfish reasons: be it for financial gains, be it for the perks, or be it as a massage to their colossal egos. To limit their powers and influence is alien to their very nature - they won't do it. Unless we make them.

How do we do this? Well, a start might be ruthlessly voting out those who break the law and show themselves to be corrupt. If all these people fear is a loss of their privileged and elevated positions, then let's do it. Let's boot them out of the corridors of power, and into a life of infamy and impotence.