This is the real issue, not many people in any walk of life who have a position to claim expenses have been totally straight and honest (as Stephen Fry points out). It is probably of no surprise to those of us who have that this goes on in parliament. Where the story begins to have relevance is the uncovering of lifestyles that we cannot relate to, let alone wish to fund.
When I became eligible to vote I voted Labour, mainly because I couldn't see how the silver spooned likes of Parkinson, Pym, Lawson etc. could have any real understanding of the day to day struggle and toil of the average British man. Stories of swimming pools, moats etc. highlight this totally detached from the toil life of those who decide what is best for the common man. I'm no Ken Livingtone fan but I'm sure he has more in common with most people than the likes of Boris Johnston.
Sadly, the trappings of parliament increase the gulf. People like John Prescott were examples of what I was looking for in a government. Son of a railwayman, grandson of a miner, and himself a merchant navyman who failed his 11+. Not everyone's favourite politician but to me a man who came from the same world as the rest of us and might just understand a little more than the majority of the opposition looking down to us from their moated homes.
Sadly Prescott later preferred a game of croquet to serving us, and it is reported that Prescott claimed £312 for fitting mock tudor beams to his constituency home.
In the end, it's a long post that resolves to a short and old cliche. They're all as bad as each other, and when all parties are as bad as each other on one issue, there is no relative harm done to any of them.
