4 Homes, 2 Bail Outs, 1 Chancellor

Britons gasp in amazement as it turns out that Chancellor Alistair Darling can add up.

It has been revealed in the Daily Telegraph today that Alistair Darling can indeed add up despite all indications to the contrary. In a week where his latest growth forecasts were trashed as just wishful thinking putting a further hole in his calculations on Britain's budget deficit and our tax wallets, it appears that Darling was never short of adding-up skills when it came to his expenses.

He may have resorted to flipping coins to come up with some of his budget numbers but he was more used to flipping homes it appears. Not just once or twice, mind you, but 4 times in the last 4 years. He clearly didn't get where he is today by being being just a dowdy old Chancellor with unmatching hair and eyebrows, he seems to have been a bit of a property baron.

All those weekends grafting on the numbers haven't paid off for Britain - we taxpayers are deep in hock until 2032 thanks to the huge debts we have run up paying for the years of fantasy under Darling's predecessor, Gordon Brown. But those grafting weekends certainly have paid off for Darling's bank balance. In addition to his quadruple home-flipping, it is alleged that he also claimed for second home allowances while he lived in his grace-and-favour lodgings in Downing Street. I am sure he is not the first to do so, as Hoon and Brown himself are rumoured to have done the same.

And it has all earned Mr. Darling a pretty penny - no wonder he had no time for watching our finances.

All these bail outs of course will ensure that when he gets sacked for either his sheer incompetence or greed (and it really is a flip of the coin to decide now), that he will have some nice non-executive directorships on some of those banks he saved. Northern Rock should be a good place for him but I dare say he has done his sums right and RBS will be more his style - he's a home town boy, after all.

Perhaps I'm Stupid

Maybe it's because I am stupid or naive, but it strikes me that none of the idiot MPs who are being exposed seem to be trying to head the Telegraph off at the pass. Darling is a case in point. Knowing full well that in the current climate the chances of him hiding the fact he has flipped his homes 4 times in 4 years were minimal. Should he not have either come clean to Brown or someone and let them know or should he have got his retaliation in early and created another bank crisis to divert attention? Nope, he seems to be of that ilk of MP who thinks that if he lies inconspicuously low by just continuing to bodge his economic forecasts and clocking up more debt then no one will notice his personal greed.

Indeed, it is hard to discern from that worried face of his that he had time to screw us all but maybe that's why he always looks so bemused and scared.

Not so Hoon or Blears who just seem to take it all in their crooked stride. Hoon rests easy knowing full well he's lined his pockets while the young lads he sent to Iraq didn't have the proper kit. But it was far more important to make sure his kit and homes were ok.

Thick skinned I suppose we should call it - the sort of thing Bill Cash has copious amounts of. He's been leading us a merry dance renting off his own daughter at our cost. I should think that's lost him his seat and hers - serves them both right. He won't step down, as with them all, he assumes 'What is lawful, is appropriate'. The mantra of all those who have so little morals as to find any loophole to make us much as they can off the backs of others.

Observing Politics

What has amazed me in all of this is how so few MPs seem to be not very well off. So many, across all parties, seem to have multiple homes, lead a lovely lifestyle, consume vast sums of expenses and seem to think they are owed more.

What has also come to light is how they scheme just to save their own skins. None have summarily resigned, but a few have offered to stand down at the election which could be as late as June next year. Meanwhile, a report in last week's Guardian, revealed that up to 52 current Labour MPs have applied to be admitted to the Upper House as they fear for their careers at the next election. How very courageous of them - if only they had been that scrupulous when serving as MPs they would have had nothing to fear. Sadly for them, only the most crooked get that treatment.

The next few weeks will be a tough time for Brown. Our guests over the weekend were lifelong Labour supporters who contribute to the Party every year and have been committed to the cause. Even they have decided that the very Party that told them Conservatives were a bunch of sleazy scumbags have turned out to be more rotten, conniving and outright dishonest than the ones they vilified. They have decided to not vote Labour at the next election. I think they are indicative of the enlightened sort who voted Labour despite not being working class as they saw the injustice of plain capitalism. Now they see that Labour were just a bunch of wannabes.

There aren't any of the Parties who come out good looking in all this. The alternatives are limited and it seems everyone is at it. The time for not just reform and but a complete rethink.