ORDER – ORDER – ORDER

Order, Order, Order; this is the cry of the Speaker of the House of Commons to bring order to chaos in debates and noise in the chamber whilst conducting the normal business. The sounds emanating across the political divide as well as every corner of the UK is that there is disorder in the Members of Parliament expenses; disorder in the House of Lords expenses and there is disorder in the press and media.

After the months of unrelenting focus on the ‘undeserving’ bankers through the financial turmoil the world over, the focus has shifted very swiftly on to the very people who are entrusted to uphold the constitution and establishment of the country – the legislators.

The allegations have surfaced through a drip feed of headlines accompanied with devastating personal expenses claim information on the front pages of the right wing ‘The Daily Telegraph’ newspaper and promptly followed up by the wider media. The headlines have been saturated across all media with no one party speared the negative headlines of ‘snouts in the trough’ at the public or taxpayers expense. Expenses claimed by MPs and members of the Lords from a bath plug to cleaning of a castle moat, toilet seat to tampons to nappies have all been featured at the tax payers expense. Some of the claims are so far fetched that the public has been outraged. Claims of expenses and payments for second homes by some of the politicians are so bizarre at a time when there are record numbers of people losing their jobs and homes through the recession, are only too stark. What is even more revealing is that the candour with which some of the politicians is treating the whole affair. No one has been spared as the early revelations were centred on the Government and the Labour politicians, including the Prime Minister Brown and even the past Prime Minister Blair has been named and shamed in the episode. Justice Minister Shahid Malik to Ex Europe Minister and now Chair of Home Affairs Select Committee – Keith Vaz have all been revealed to be claiming public funds for their second homes and other luxury goods. The opposition Tory leader David Cameroon and his entourage have not escaped the expose. The daily run of new names with Ministers being named and shamed continues with the news agenda management by the Government and the other political parties in free fall. Even the speaker of the House is embroiled in the management and curtailing of the debate in the House of Commons. It is sure fire bet that he is likely to be one of the highest profile casualties of this whole sordid affair.

What is intriguing is that prominent people like Lord Tebbit on the right of the political divide are publicly leading the battle cry in asking the electorate not to vote for the main parties at the next General Election. This is distracting the public debate away from the real facts behind the whole expenses affair. The key to remember is that someone sold this restricted information for a large sum of money to the press and by enlarge the offices responsible for the distraction have scrutinised the claims before authorising their payments.  In a contracting economy and with the backdrop of the greed manifested by the large corporate bonus cultures in the banking and insurance sectors, the MPs expenses have been seen in the same light; self gratification at the expense of the tax payer. Questions about referenda are being asked, to throw out MPs mid term by holding them accountable locally. There seems to be very little appetite by the main parties for this approach to be adopted.

What is clear is that the political establishment and the role of the MPs and Lords has suffered a disproportioned level of damage and some argue is self inflicted in this day and age of ‘greed’ sensitivity at the expense of the public purse.

The damage to the trust, integrity and image of the legislators will take time to be restored if democracy is to function in a robust and efficient manner. The trust has to be restored at local, regional and national level across the political landscape. The local parties linked to the national structures must respond to the challenges presented by the current avalanche of headlines. There is no doubt with the impending General Election in the next 12 months; there will be casualties on all divides of the political spectrum. Labour party according to the polls is trailing the opposition Tories by 25 points despite all parties being tarnished by the latest episode.

The true winners will be the people who have sought transparent and fair system of remunerating their representatives at Parliament. The gravy train on expenses has come to an abrupt stop with some screaming politicians jumping off mid flow.

Gordon Brown the Prime Minster has already apologised to the nation on behalf of all Parties. What remains to be seen is the impact of this episode is likely to have in the run up to the next months European and Local Elections in parts of the UK. The results will help the pundits on the left and right of politics to determine the course to set for the next General Election. Key commentators are poised to strike on whether Labour Party will jettison its liability – the ‘prudent’ ex Chancellor Gordon Brown as leader and Prime Minister.