Archive for May, 2009

Time for change – radical change

Sunday, May 17th, 2009

Public relations professionals are always telling clients that the best way to deal with an issue is to turn it into an opportunity.

The Palace of Westminster certainly has an issue at the moment, so let’s give the appropriate PR advice. Much of the problems surrounding the House of Commons and MPs expenses, as well as those separate issues in the House of Lords about members being prepared to change legislation for money, stem largely from what many politicians hold dear – the tradition and the setting of Parliament.

All the paraphernalia, customs, robes and traditions, including the unwritten rules and the inevitable lack of transparency they bring, are largely what makes politics unpalatable to much of the the British public. We need a non-confrontational, business-like, sensible Parliament, where politicians can do the business they get paid to do without being hidebound by what are frankly outdated surroundings and inappropriate customs.

So here’s the solution. The Palace of Westminster must become what it is anyway – a museum of the political system.  It’s a wonderful building and would make a wonderful place for the people of this country and others to learn about political history and all the tradition that goes with it.

Then we have a new chamber for MPs where debates can be held, not facing each other with the awful yah-boo behaviour, but reasoned, sensible debate in a modern setting like most other democracies do.
Anything that smacks of custom and practice which ties us to the old ways must go. Goodbye Black Rod; goodbye Queen’s speech (we know it’s not her ideas anyway so why pretend); goodbye sergeant-at-arms; goodbye the mace; goodbye not saying someone’s name only his or her  constituency; goodbye ‘honourable’ as it seems so many of them are not. All these should be consigned to the museum.

We need a fresh start in British politics and now is the time to make that bold step.

Any MPs who read this and think these are bad ideas needs to talk more to people and less to colleagues who have been working in the present museum for years. We demand a business-like parliament, doing serious work unencumbered by the trappings of history. We have a Parliament that likes to pretend it is still in the 17th century – and that includes the way many politicians do not respect the people of the UK.

The issue of MPs expenses is a symptom of a serious illness which needs radical surgery. Time to bring our politics into the 21st century, Out with the old and in with the new.

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Expenses at our expense

Tuesday, May 12th, 2009

It’s been fascinating to see what some MPs have been claiming for. Chandeliers, horse manure, dog food, lawn mowers, barbecues, light bulbs and so many ‘flipping’ second homes that we lose count.

MPs need to be reimbursed for the inevitable cost of working in two places – their constituencies and the House of Commons. But the present system is broken and needs to be replaced.  There are really only two options here – one is to have a fixed allowance for a second home and that can be spent on a mortgage, rent, hotel room or whatever, and the other is to have (as the armed forces do) set accomodation that they can live in at no cost.

One of the most amazing things in this whole fiasco is that MPs seem to think that no-one would find out. In this age of citizen media those who are paid by the public must expect it. And Speaker Martin was entirely blinkered in seeking to castigate whoever spilled the beans, rather than those whose dubious actions meant the beans were worth spilling.

Many of our MPs seem to need clear and strategic PR advice, the one thing, ironically, that they haven’t bothered to claim for.

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MPs expenses

Friday, May 8th, 2009

Members of Parliament have an important role in society. They are, in fact, the very guardians of society. They have been elected to look after our interests in respect of our laws, our borders, our relationships with other countries, our compassion for less well off members of our communities, our defence, our economic well-being and countless other tasks.

Much of this they do diligently. We trust them to make important decisions of our behalf, and we pay them quite well for their time. We also recognise that the job can mean having to have a second home in order that they can do their jobs in Westminster as well as their jobs in their constituencies. It is fair and just that additional expenses incurred in having to have a second home should be recompensed.

But as we have put MPs in a position of trust to look after our interests, they must also recognise that we have an interest in making sure that their claims are fair and just. No one wants our MPs to be out of pocket; neither do we want them to take us for a ride.

The current row over expenses does no political party credit. The Cabinet might be under scrutiny at the moment, but abuses have gone on for years and no party has raised its head above the parapet and said these abuses must stop.

There seems to be a culture in Westminster of ‘it’s within the rules so it’s OK’. But we elect them to make rules for us – and for themselves. If we cannot trust them to make and police their own rules, can we really trust them with ours?

When Commons committees questions others about morals, actions, decisions and policies, do they forget that there are clouds hanging over their own morals, actions, decisions and policies?

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? Who guards the guardians? That phrase was coined by the Roman poet Juvenal getting on for 1800 years ago. He was writing about enforcing morals on women, and since then it has been used to describe dictatorships and other forms of bad government.

It also seems to apply to the House of Commons in 2009.

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