Too little, too late

The scandal of MP expenses just seems to go on and on and the damage appears to be to the institutions rather than any one political party.

Leaders are now taking what they'd like us to consider to be 'tough action' but it's hardly the case.

Cameron and the Tories want a pat on the head for making someone resign a few days before they were probably going to be outed in some newspaper.

The chief whip of the Labour Party also wants us to believe that he only suspended an MP from the Parliamentary Labour Party when the story broke because it wouldn't have been fair to do otherwise. No, Nick Brown. I think the reason that, despite you knowing two weeks ago that one of your MPs had quite possibly been committing fraudulent acts, you waited until you had no choice. After all, what party already doused in shit from months of scandal would want to highlight that one of their own was maybe not just guilty of abusing the glutenous expenses system but possibly the law?

In any case, it's win win for the media. Normally at the first whiff of a scandal there is some kind of tabloid campaign. A missing kid, a badly behaved celebrity and the Sundays in particular become flooded with 'sign our campaign' coupons.

But not this time.

Why bite the hand that feeds them? A torrent of stories on a similar theme and a population resenting the political classes whilst scanning the pages each day for the latest name which will appear on news channels for that day.

I don't think it's good enough to pay the money back. It's an admission of guilt and if they're making laws then they should be fired for not sticking to them.

I also don't want a load of my money spent on some whitewash of an investigation. It's bad enough that for years MPs have been troughing whilst I see more and more of my money taken away from me to be spent on their moats, plugs and harmful policies.

It's just a way for MPs and the government in particular to portray a message that they are trying to do something. 'Enough is enough!' they shout.

But enough should have been enough years ago. They should have realised it when they could furnish their second homes, with mortgage interest payments paid for by us, with allowances from people who might not have been able to buy a starter home.

It's too little, too late and only done because they've been caught.

Still, just think about this. You can't even trace what allowances MEPs get because the fees office don't dare let anyone know how much has been paid.