So we have one resignation on our hands. Andrew MacKay, Cameron's parliamentary secretary, is the first to fall on his sword. But let's be clear about this - he has merely surrendered his post as Cameron's aide. He has not stepped down as an MP.
As he is married to another MP, the two claimed for separate second home allowances. No matter how you interpret this one, this is just a blatant abuse of the system in a premeditated way. As man and wife, common sense and decency, and indeed the law on taxes, mean that you are treated as a duality. While the Green Book and officials may think that every MP is uniquely able to make the same claims, the fact is that a married couple should not.
It just becomes a scam to support two homes absolutely free.
MacKay is not even paying back the money as yet but awaits an edict from his master. Like so many others who hide behind this wretched book, which in its own way could not be more explicit about these matters, MacKay is just out of kilter with the rest of country.
The Ghosts of Morley
Elliot Morley may not have the luxury of resigning whatever it is he does. He is likely to be the first to incur the wrath of Gordon Brown which may be more like being kicked by a sheep. Morley is riddled with scams from flipping to claiming for mortgage payments he no longer paid. He claims it was an error and that he had committed no offence. Perhaps he ought to look in the law books - false accounting and fraud were crimes the last time I looked.
Meanwhile, in the Upper House, two Lords who are under investigation for taking money to change laws are to be suspended for 6 months. A poisonous penalty if ever there was one. Oh, we have seen peers escape jail for driving at excessive speeds in the outside lane of motorways at night while texting - and killing a stranded motorist at the same time. We have seen peers defraud shareholders, newspapers and insurance companies, serve time in prison and still keep their titles. I think a second house is required but this joke of peerage as being some kind of elite person with a better character than the rest of us is just a complete travesty.
The whole sordid affair drags on interminably but every day seems to bring ever more sleazy, disgusting examples of just how corrupt our ruling class air. It is, in a dreadful way, some kind of cleansing and a process that is helpful to us all. We have seen politicians for what they really are. Take away the fancy words and bull and they are pretty petty thieves. If they're thinking is at this kind of level then you can bet your shirt that on the bigger decisions, they are easily 'bought'.
Makes you wonder why we are in a war with Iraq and why aluminium tariffs for Russians were so conveniently reduced, really.
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