Thursday 14th May
I love the Houses of Parliament. I have always regarded the Palaces of Westminster as particularly British, boldly beautiful and extremely inspiring and I still delight in every trip I am fortunate enough to make there.
Regrettably, we've seen in recent weeks a dark cloud lingering about Westminster and this week's revelations in respect of allowances and expenses have done nothing to dispel it.
The system of allowances and expenses has been manipulated and abused in some cases, not to mention mishandled by the department supposed to have been managing the system. I remain of the opinion that as disgraceful as some of the revelations are - and they are - that once again, there are a number of bad examples bringing the entire house into disrepute. As such, I continue to maintain that the honest mistakes and the willful manipulations should be shown as distinct from each other and then the miscreants dealt with appropriately and decisively.
I was delighted to see David Cameron taking a strong stance on this issue this week. I trust that his action this week will assist in re-establishing public confidence in our MPs - and indeed our elected representatives - and in turn my own warm feelings in respect of the House.
"not to mention mishandled by the department supposed to have been managing the system."
ReplyDeleteSlightly harsh I think Stuart. As an Officer of the House, I know that the way our current members handle themselves isn't far short of the 'he who shouts loudest gets priority' standard. Certainly, in my experience, if you dare cross / criticise a member then awkward questions are asked via the management. This needs to be changed too - public servants of any sort should be there to serve and spend wisely, and be respectful of others. I hope that if/when you perhaps replace Mr Gove, you'll remember that? :)