Cameron Gets Tough On Expenses...

... depending on how you define tough. Young Cameron, with the faux outrage of a practiced political charlatan, displays what he probably believes to be leadership by demanding some members of his party pay back some of the more excessive and outrageous claims they made. 

Well done, Davey boy. Well the fuck done. Because this makes all the difference. He's forced some fraudsters to pay back the money they fleeced from the general public. Big whoop. Like Gordon's apology, this is too little, too late. 

Look at it this way. If you exploited an expenses system, were exposed and brought discredit on your organisation out in the real world, you'd probably lose your job. And a lot of employers would call in the police to investigate. Now, Cameron is the leader of the Tories, and some of those he leads have rinsed the expenses system for all it is worth. So what I wanted to see from Cameron - what might earn him some grudging respect - would be to sack those members of the Shadow Cabinet who have exploited the system. And for those Shadow Ministers and all the backbenchers who have perpetrated these outrages, I'd like to see them deselected. They have abused their positions as MPs; they should not be allowed to run as Tory MPs again. 

Had he done this, Cameron would have shown that he is serious about dealing with these troughing bastards. But, of course, he isn't really serious about it. He doesn't want to rock the boat too much. Like Gordon with his ersatz and ineffective apology on behalf of all MPs, this is a desperate, fumbling attempt to try to draw a line under this scandal and move on. But we, the British taxpayer, shouldn't accept anything less than heads rolling over this one. Those who have abused the system should be removed from the system. And if Cameron and Brown won't do it, then we should do it at the ballot box.