Practice what you preach
"People have got to have confidence in
us." This is what Jacqui Smith told the Sunday Telegraph at
the weekend."
This being, of course, in reference to the expenses MPs are
currently entitled to claim at the cost of tax-payers, and the
revelation that Smith's husband has claimed two pay-per-view
adult films on her allowance.
Subsequently, we've also learned how she has claimed for -
among other things - a television, washing machine, video recorder,
towel and even a toothbrush holder.
Some people may feel sorry for Smith - after all, it was her
husband's mistake, not her's - but I am not among them.
Issues of claiming for life's little luxuries at my (and your)
expense aside, the irony of the whole affair is that she is
experiencing firsthand how it feels to have personal information
made public, just as she wants for the rest of us with the
government's mammoth databases, detailing our lives from cradle
to grave.
Any confidence people may have held has long since disappeared
after the government managed to lose confidential details of 25
million child benefit claimants last year.
Trust and confidence can only be fostered by practicing what you
preach and there is a strong feeling, certainly among people I
speak to, that MPs do anything but.
While the rest of us adjust our outgoings now that times are
harder, they just pass their receipts onto the generous soul
responsible for dishing out expenses payments.
To then justify this, as Smith has, by claiming her actions are
"allowed under the current system," isn't going to
help matters. There are plenty of things we could all do without
breaking any rules, but that wouldn't
excuse them or make them morally right.
The attitude of MPs towards the expenses they can claim, and the
system that governs them, needs to change. Unfortunately, the only
thing I'm confident of is that it won't be happening
anytime soon.
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