Flipping hell

15 May 09
MIKE THATCHER | Who could argue with Stephen Fry, the erudite actor, writer and presenter, in his dismissal of the MPs’ expenses furore as simply ‘not that important’? Well, pretty much the rest of the country.

Who could argue with Stephen Fry, the erudite actor, writer and presenter, in his dismissal of the MPs’ expenses furore as simply ‘not that important’? Well, pretty much the rest of the country.

MPs’ expenses might not amount to a hill of beans in terms of the overall public finances, but they are symbolic of politicians’ ability to not practise what they preach.

The public sector has to find an additional £15bn in efficiency savings over the next three years. The tangible effects of this can already be seen, as budgets are cut, services are threatened and thousands of council workers face redundancy.

Every penny counts, we are told. All public servants must step back and think about how to do more for less. Meanwhile, many of our most senior politicians are trying their damnedest to do less for more.

If they’re not ‘flipping’ their homes, they are claiming for all manner of items, ranging from lawnmower repairs to mock Tudor beams.

It’s hardly leading by example, and has led to frantic damage-limitation exercises on all sides of the House of Commons this week.

The sooner the party leaders get together and agree a way out of the feeding frenzy, the sooner they can get back to dealing with the important issues that Fry was alluding to, notably the failing economy and the dire public finances.

Despite some hints this week that we might be approaching the bottom of the slump, there is still a lot of pain to come. Ministers and their civil servants should be focusing on fighting the recession and not dealing with the fallout from their expenses claims.

But it’s not just the government that has suffered – all the main parties have been wounded. They will discover how much at next month’s local and European elections, while a swathe of MPs face summary ejection in the forthcoming general election.

If the only green shoots visible by then are on their well-manicured lawns and gardens, they will deserve all they get.

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