dragged blinking into light

Dragged, blinking, into the light

Praise be:

Gordon Brown is to tell Labour MPs to publicly declare any family

members they employ as David Cameron today admitted 70 Tory MPs had

relatives on their staff. The prime minister made clear he expected

such transparency in a meeting yesterday with Labour chief whip

Geoff Hoon.

The move, in the wake of the Derek Conway controversy, was

announced after Cameron today appeared to lead efforts for greater

transparency by conducting a survey that reveals more than 70 Tory

MPs employ members of their family.

The shadow cabinet has now been asked by Cameron to declare in the

register of members' interests any relatives they employ from the

beginning of the new financial year on April 1.

Only a couple of days ago, the BBC was informing us that "probably

more than 40 out of 646" MPs employed family members on their payroll,

but it was difficult to be sure because, in Reeta Chakrabati's

carefully measured phrase;

MPs can be rather coy about admitting to employing family

Now we discover that there are 70+ in the Conservatives alone. Gordon,

by contrast, doesn't think we need to know how many Labour MPs have

their families fed from the public trough, and Speaker Michael Martin

specifically blocked publication of a list of MPs staff and proposals

for spot checks of their expenses back in 2006. (His aides are

insisting that his decision still stands.) Then again, his wife has

received �50,000 in free flights in the last 3 years and over �4000 in

taxi fares to go shopping, so it's perhaps unsurprising that Gorbals

Mick's passion for full disclosure is not what it might be. So much

for transparency.

As I struggle to come to terms, nonetheless, with the revelation that

members of Parliament have hitherto been permitted to employ their

family in secret - clearly I haven't been paying attention - I must

disagree with Iain Dale when he says, at the end of his Telegraph

article today, that

the effect of this week might well be a truce in what has become a

food fight of sleaze allegations. Even the most partisan MP,

commentator or blogger must realise the deeply damaging effect this

seemingly continual stream of negative headlines is having on the

body politic. Enough is enough.

Certainly it is damaging, but Iain has been no less assiduous than the

rest of us when it comes to chronicling the peccadilloes involving

Harman, Wendy Alexander and Peter Hain, among many others. Why, now,

are we to call a truce? Because it's one of 'our' side* with his

fingers in the till? No, that won't do.

I repeat; the blame for this lies not with media, let alone bloggers,

but with politicians who treat the public purse as a handy slush fund

to keep their families in the club-hopping style to which they have

become accustomed. Blaming negative headlines for the collapse of

trust in politics is like saying that the shitty thing about cancer is

the way all your hair falls out. The bad publicity is a side-effect,

not a cause.

Enough is enough? Aye; but not in the way Iain may mean.

*Mr Eugenides is not a member of any political party, but you don't

have to be a regular reader to spot where his sympathies lie.

Labels: Gravy train, Lib Dems, Nu Lab, Sleazebags, Tories

// posted by Mr Eugenides @ 1:28 PM

Comments:

Mr. E:

You are the absolute best.

Long may your lum reek!!!

Yours,

John Ballantrae

# posted by Blogger ballantrae-reprint : 3:01 PM

"the effect of this week might well be a truce in what has become a

food fight of sleaze allegations."

Unfortunately Iain Dale is right about that, did you notice that no

MPs raised the sleaze issues at PMQs?

Peter Oborne wrote an article about a similar truce back in 2003:

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3724/is_200301/ai_n9222025

# posted by Blogger Ross : 3:46 PM

A minister (belatedly) resigned, a MP finds itself in political exile.

It seems to me that there is some substance to this sleaze fest.

# posted by Anonymous Anonymous : 4:56 PM

You are absolutely right Mr E.

The blame lies with all those from parish councillors through town

councillors, borough councillors, county councillors, Mayors of

London, MSPs, MWAs, MPs, MEPs (these latter not just English)who

thought because they were elected they could help themselves at will

to vast amounts of tax payer money. Or influence whatever decision

possible to help their friends, their families or their donors.

Most people take it as given that this is happening. And it's certain

that after Hain and Conway they're saying look it's true, and the rest

of them are up to it as well.

So it's up to all of them, every single one, to come clean and say,

this is where I get my money from, this is what or who I spend it on.

No ifs no buts.

I for one absolutely totally object to my money being used to

subsidise some MP's painted-face fancy-dressed party-going son. I'm

being restrained on that one.

# posted by Anonymous Anonymous : 4:05 PM