On David Laws
There's something faintly tragic about the resignation of David Laws. It has that inevitable air to it - he must have known that the controversy about his expenses would go public at some point after he moved to a senior government position, but the fact that it has come so early in the history of the coalition and after what has been a meteoric rise for and a pretty strong performance from Laws since the General Election makes it somehow worse than had it broken in 6 to 12 months time.
And the feeling of tragedy is further enhanced by the reasoning behind his alleged expenses fiddle. He wanted to keep his private life private, and I'd imagine I'm not alone in empathising with that. In fact, I think that our political class would be much improved if it didn't attract the sort of people who were happy to have every aspect of their lives paraded through the papers.
Furthermore, the sums claimed by Laws that appear to have fallen foul of the rules are nothing compared to the vast sums claimed by other MPs - including the ever odious Ed Balls and the obsequious little turd John Bercow. Yet those two - and others - get to strut around with relative impunity, whereas Laws gets less than a month in his job. If there was justice, others would have had their careers ended before Laws.
Yet we shouldn't overlook the fact that David Laws took taxpayer money and used it for his own benefit. And let's be clear on this point - it was for his benefit, even if (as has been claimed) it was for his personal profit. I have a lot of sympathy for someone who wants to keep their private life private; but much of that sympathy evaporates when the expect the taxpayer to fund them as they do so.
It may not be particularly fair that Laws falls while others escape retribution, but that doesn't change the fact that I think Laws was right to resign, and also that he had to go. And if Laws deserves any sort of credit, it is for the fact that he went quickly, without any of the desperate and unseemly clinging to power that was so typical of ministers during the Nu Labour years.
posted by The Nameless Libertarian @ 7:49 am
2 Comments
2 Comments:
Brand new piggies.
Same old trough.
So much for the new politics I'm afraid. In Laws' place we have a man totaly unqualified for the job. It is right that Laws resigned but the resulting lack of competence in a key role is worrying. Is this the best DemTories could come up with?
"Yet we shouldn't overlook the fact that David Laws took taxpayer money and used it for his own benefit."
Well, yes, he did. But so do all the other MPs who are claiming large sums to offset the cost of a second home shared openly with their partner or spouse. In fact, the parliamentary expenses system exists so that they can do so, since otherwise only the independently wealthy could become politicians.
David Laws' error was in trying to claim the same benefit from the expenses system as other MPs, but by a means that would not draw attention to his living arrangements. Unfortunately, in doing so he broke the rules. In my view, that means the rules are badly written.
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