MPs' Expenses: Why They Matter.

So, we have a "political heavyweight" like Stephen Fry arguing that this scandal over MPs' expenses doesn't matter. The Daily Telegraph carries a scathing report on his comments, and whilst the article is rather more scathing about Fry than I would be, I have to say I agree with what it says. 

Anyone who had read this blog over the past few days (and, indeed, the last year or so) should know that I am pretty hacked off with the various examples we have of piss-taking from our elected representatives. I think it is an outrage, and think that people like Fry are, quite simply, missing the point. 

Yeah, the amounts of taxpayers' money splashed down the urinal of life by our MPs are small when compared to the massive sums wasted propping up failed banks. And there is something very small and wince-inducing about hearing about how many bog seats John Prescott and his fat arse have been through. But the real point is that, although the sums are small in the grand scheme of things, they say so much about our MPs and our Ministers. One of the tags on this blog is "They Don't Work For You." And this scandal has brought that into sharp relief. 

Across the board, across the major parties, we have seen MPs rinsing a system they created and they sign off on. They have only responded with repayments and demands to reform the system after they have been caught with their grubby hands in the till. They have taken the money from the taxpayer, and wasted this money on perks, improvements and repairs on their second homes. And some of the sums spent on furnishing second homes are often far, far in excess of the average earnings of a UK citizen. This, perhaps, is the reason why Fry feels the expenses are unimportant - maybe the sums involved don't matter to him as a wealthy man. To a lot of people in this country, though, these are huge sums. 

And what type of person is going to be attracted to Parliament when they know the sums they can earn as a base salary, then expense as much as they can possibly claim for their second homes? Do we really think it will be those attracted by public service and helping the people? Or will it be those wanting to make as much money as possible from the taxpayer? I've argued for a long time that we are attracting the wrong people into Parliament, and this grubby little scandal simply makes the case for me. They Don't Work For You. They want to exploit you. 

This scandal shows that we have the wrong people in power in this country, and that we urgently need to change the component parts of the House of Commons if we want to get a better calibre and more moral type of person into Parliament. Yes, this scandal matters. It is about the future of our country, and who leads us into that future.