No expense spared

Cast your mind back to a few months ago: MPs were copping a bit of flack for not being all that bothered about regulating the financial system, but the bankers were held ultimately responsible for the economy going tits up, and Fred Goodwin was public enemy number one.

Fred of course did nothing illegal in collecting his final salary pension despite nearly overseeing the demise of his bank, just as most of the MPs involved in the current expenses scandal/fiasco haven't broken any rules, strictly speaking. But the ire aimed at the hyper-rich City boys was nothing compared to the toxic atmosphere of Question Time on Thursday night, where poor Menzies Campbell, Margaret Beckett and Teresa May were like lambs to the slaughter, trying in vain to answer for the sins of their colleagues in the face of a truly poisonous audience. Michael Portillo said he'd never seen a Question Time like it - it was a bear pit and seemed like a true tipping point. There are always bitter and bigoted loons in the audience who want to give the panel a hard time, but this time the MPs could barely make themselves heard above the jeers and catcalls. Without doubt, public trust in MPs has reached an all-time low.

My problem is not feeling as incensed as I perhaps should be. Of course it is outrageous that certain people have been able to flip-flop the designations of their first and second homes and claim a fortune on both, as to do so clearly takes a degree of forward planning. Some of the more outlandish claims could possibly be justified as oversights, but to you and me they are still taking the piss.

Maybe I'm just seeing these guys as being corrupted by the system, as succumbing to the same failings as most people would if they were given such leeway with expenses. The current rules are ridiculously lax. Instead of weasally trying to explain away their claims as Campbell did by saying that "public opinion" had now significantly changed and that had made him realise that what he'd done could be interpreted as wrong, MPs would be far better off by coming out and pleading it's a fair cop. "Ok, so we've been taking the piss for years. Now we've been found out we'll change the system so stuff like this hopefully won't happen again, honest."

The ditherings of Campbell and Beckett on QT can be summed up succinctly as "We're not sorry for doing it, we're sorry for getting caught." I've been on the receiving end of that accusation and, as is so often the case, the truth hurts. But it's better to admit these things. When a bloke from McDonalds can claim the moral high ground with his "nobody in my organisation would ever contemplate making such outrageous claims" bollocks (yeah, like I'm sure you wouldn't given half the chance), you know you're in trouble.

One guy in the QT audience, who I thought at first glance would be one of those condescending young Tory spods, got it right when he argued that, compared to the likes of Silvio Berlusconi, the vast majority of our MPs aren't remotely corrupt. Scrap the current system, he argued, pay MPs a higher salary and don't let them claim for second homes, giving them purpose built accommodation near Westminster if necessary (my apologies to this fella if I'm misrepresenting him at all). At the end of the day, an MP's base salary is not very high, and even adding on many thousands in expenses they are earning a similar amount as doctors or head teachers, and considerably less than the bankers who were previously attracting the public's ire.

"This is not politics. It's theft," says a man in the Guardian today. "MPs' allowances are more than most people's wages in Lincolnshire." Well, most people in Lincolnshire aren't running the country. You could argue that some MPs are bent, and others might not be very good looking out for their constituents or whatever. But it would be nonsensical to suggest they're all out to line their pockets and aren't trying their best to keep the country on its feet. The public is so fucking angry about this because they mostly hold MPs to a higher standards. To me, expecting anybody to be perfect is at best naive and at worst boneheaded. Another man is quoted in the Guardian about not being surprised if people got shotguns and went round "shooting them all". OK, so now I'm furious. Please God, give these people some perspective.