Scribbles is depressed. The MPs' expenses issue at first seemed an overblown story about MPs claiming for minor items like plugs, then it became a laugh-out-loud tale of Tory elitism, and then ... then it got serious.
There has obviously been a culture in Westminster of claiming expenses not just for due recompense, but as a way to make money. I say "obviously", because such practices have been duplicated amongst MPs and gained names such as "flipping".
The fact that Westminster fought to not have to reveal this information really puts paid to any argument that MPs did not know that they were doing anything wrong. It wasn't the 'system' that was the problem, it was the way they were using it.
I should say at this point of course that not every MP has been engaging in these practices or misusing tax payers money. Good for them. Unfortunately the list of MPs who, if not exactly engaging in dodgy practices, have taken the piss, is getting longer by the day. Enough for Westminster's authority to be thoroughly compromised.
Given that most of us operating under the will of Westminster have been enduring the worries that a downturn in the economy have brought, the story that our Lords and Masters have obviously been making hay with our money has lead to some speculation that we might go all go crazy and start running around the country breaking things.
Here for instance:
"The tumbrils are not quite rolling up Whitehall, but MPs now fear the politics of the lynch mob. Bricks were thrown through the constituency office windows of Julie Kirkbride: politicians' wives face abuse in the street; and police are protecting the home of Scunthorpe MP Elliot Morley after revelations that he claimed £16,000 against a mortgage he had already paid off. Voters, says Labour veteran Diane Abbott, want "dead MPs hanging from lamp-posts". Even one of the government's steadiest performers, Margaret Beckett, was booed by the audience on last week's Question Time.
Among ministers, there is now a genuine fear of public disorder. Meltdown, an anarchist collective involved in the G20 protests, is organising an "overthrow the government" day in June, arguing that it is time to move beyond targeting bankers. "The last time it felt like this was probably just before the poll tax riots," recalls one Labour aide."
But do you know what? I think this is projection. I think that Westminster has been a hell-hole of tension this last week and that MPs think that we are feeling it like they are. Oh, we are feeling it alright, but not in the same way they are. They are the ones who are spending their days tensely listening for footsteps along the corridor, they are the ones whose careers and reputations are on the line. They are the ones who are feeling the full weight of their misdeeds, even if we suspect that they don't feel the full guilt of it. Meanwhile, the rest of us mere mortals have our own lives to be getting on with.
I don't think that the European elections will be nearly as bad as people are saying they will be - in terms of people voting for far-right parties anyway. I simply do not believe there are enough people in this country ignorant or nasty enough to vote for parties like the BNP out of spite to make any kind of significant difference. I don't think this will bring down politics as we know it in the UK and any suggestion that it will reflects the hysteria in Westminster better than it predicts the forthcoming actions of the people.
There is nothing for it but for each and every MP to search their souls, take the public mood to heart, and never do anything like this to us again.
