Ken Clarke and Expenses

Poor, poor Ken Clarke. He's been overcharged in the expenses payback scheme:

In a letter to the Tory frontbencher Sir Thomas suggested he should repay £4,733 of expenses claimed since 2004.

But on Wednesday he said it should have been £1,345.

This, lest we forget, ladies and gents, is the extremely wealthy former Chancellor of the Exchequer Ken Clarke who was initially expected to pay back nearly £5k. Instead, he has to pay back £1,345. Now correct me if I'm wrong, but the fact that this very rich man has to pay back anything at all is a pretty good indicator that he did something very wrong. The fact he has to pay back less than was originally thought doesn't mean he is absolved of his... well, let's be charitable and call it a mistake.

And besides, why has this very wealthy man claimed hundreds of thousands of pounds over the past few years in expenses? Now I know some (not least our elected *elite*) will argue that we need to pay exceptionally generous expenses in order to get the best into Parliament. Which would be fine, if we weren't talking about Ken Clarke and the like. Because Ken Clarke really is crap. He's someone who bumbles around pretending to be a man of the people whilst fleecing the people for every penny he can. He is also so politically incompetent and unpopular that he managed to lose not one, not two but three leadership contests - one to Iain Duncan Smith, for fuck's sake. If not paying generous expenses helps to keep people like Clarke out of the corridors of power, then it is yet another reason why we should restrict the amount MPs can take as payment and get people into Parliament who want to serve, rather than just earn.