Sir Christopher Kelly today accused MPs of exploiting their allowances for personal gain, as he opened his long-awaited inquiry into Commons expenses.
The chairman of the Committee on Standards in Public Life said that MPs appeared to lack principles, when they should have shown honesty and integrity.
“These values are timeless,” he said, at the start of the committee’s first evidence session. “If they had been followed more by more MPs over the past few years we would not be in the situation that we are.”
* stating the bleeding obvious
4 Comments
More in “Utopia” wrote something to the effect that those who seek office should be banned from it for life.
When can we have the same much-needed events over hear in Oz? Do we even have a committee on standards in public life?
I feel the same way as More, as I’ve said a while ago in a post here. The problem with democracy is that some of the people who seek office are self-promoters who are more interested in grandstanding, making themselves look good, and getting what they can out of it, rather than genuinely serving the public.
I’ve long thought that the Anglo-Saxons, for all their faults, are less prone to corruption than most folk. Should I now send that particular thought to file 13?
Also, very good post DEM. You’re an ace sheila in my eyes!!!! 🙂
Thanks, Mel. Not less prone to corruption I think (that’s a symptom of the human condition) but Anglo-Saxon/Celtic society in Britain doesn’t have much tolerance for it.