Milking the system leaves a sour taste

PAV’S PATCH:

YOU might be surprised to hear this, but I actually feel sorry for MPs.

They are being assailed from all sides because of their expenses but how was it put in the Bible? “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.”

Is there an office or factory in the country where people aren’t trying to feather their nests, whether it be by actively fiddling their exes or just taking home a few sheets of paper, or a handful of screws?

Believe me, I’m not being sanctimonious. If there’s one profession that knows how to fill in forms and hand them into accounts it’s journalists.

From a local perspective, I’ve known dozens of people who have made up car journeys, lunches or night jobs just to rake in a little extra cash each month.

And as for Fleet Street — you know, those people who are throwing up their hands in horror at what has happened — I’ll bet their exes know no bounds.

Some years ago, there was a man who used to charge his paper for taxi fares from El Vino’s wine bar to his office, a distance of about 50 yards.

Seeing as scribes on national dailies have probably never heard of God, I’ll use another line for them: “People in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.”

To be fair, I once had a job where the editor told me the pay wasn’t marvellous but you bumped it up with expenses.

I did as I was told and everything was fine until we got a new regime and I was ordered to end the practice. As I was effectively taking a sizeable pay cut, I had to leave.

When I say that I feel sorry for MPs, of course that doesn’t mean I necessarily see them or our political system as perfect.

I don’t like insincerity, short-termism or the way a prime minister hands out goodies to his friends in the shape of OBEs or membership of the House of Lords.

Yet if you really want a gravy train, take a look at the exes that Euro-MPs are allowed to claim.

It’s like Bisto mixed with steroids. And, just to make things dafter, once a month or so they all up sticks from Brussels and travel to Strasbourg. How much does that cost?

The prevailing belief is that MPs should get nothing: they should do their work from a sense of duty with satisfaction as the only reward.

Fine, but if that’s the case bear in mind that that the only people who will be able to afford to represent us at Westminster will be the rich.