PEERS OF THE REALM

I see the MET, Britain's so-called premier police force, have decided not to follow up charges of corruption against four Labour Peers in the House of Lords. Well what a surprise! They seemed to think that Parliament would put so many obstacles in the way, as has happened in the past, that it wasn't worth the candle. We live in a banana republic run by a bunch of spivs and no way are our police going to get on the wrong foot with their political masters.

CORRUPT PEERS

So four members of the House of Lords have been accused of using their position to enrich themselves. Basically offering to influence legislation in return for money. Naturally they deny it and we shall have to wait for more information before sitting in judgement. But I am not surprised. The old (post-war) House of Lords was a mixed bag of characters with some peers being convicted criminals, drug addicts, rogues, colourful characters as well as a good number having a wide experience of life in business, the armed forces. Of course many chose not to sit in the House or did so only on a few occasions. I suspect that although the ones who did sit were also a cross-section of humanity (apart from their blue blood of course) they were probably skewed towards those with positive characters and many served their country well.
Now the House consists mainly of people elevated from the Commons together with other placemen chosen by the government. They are not elected. As the Commons has a large number of rogues, slime dogs, scum, scoundrels it is obvious that a chamber derived from such a source will be equally squalid. Ad so it has proved.

HOUSE OF COMMONS

Have just watched Michael Martin's statement today on the police intrusion into an MP's office in the Palace of Westminster. It is totally clear that he and the Serjeant-at-Arms connived in this intrusion. He says he wasn't told they needed, but didn't have a warrant. For God's sake if the principal officer of this country's prime legislative body knows nothing about police powers then who does. This wretched Scot, who should have been impeached many moons ago, is but a puppet of the Metropolitan Police who in turn are puppets of the Labour Government under our Dear Leader ( a term more appropriate to North Korea) Gordon Brown. Some reports suggested that about 9 anti-terrorist officers were involved in Damian Green's arrest and search of his office and home. Well I'm sure the wimps would rather do that than tackle real terrorists.

WESTMINSTER GRAVY TRAIN

So yesterday our representatives at Westminster voted on salaries and expenses. Many (well most) voted against reforming the expenses system. Some MPs wanted wanted to introduce a degree of greater transparency in allowances claimed as well as a tighter auditing control. Those who voted to reject such plans include:— Jaqui Smith, Andy Burnham, Shaun Woodward, Paul Murphy, Caroline Flint. Some MPs obviously have the sense to realise that the mass of taxpayers is getting fed up with pushing the gravy train and that the reputation of Parliament in the eyes of the public demands some restraint. Others are totally without shame.

WESTMINSTER EXPENSES

Well our MPs have now come up with a new fix for their problems with housing expenses. As we know they have been very reluctant to open their expense claims to public view led by Michael Martin. The fix is simple — just look at the maximum that can be claimed annually and add it to the salary of MPs on a no questions asked basis and irrespective of whether it is needed. The amount seems to be around £23,000 pa tax-free which is roughly equivalent to £40,000 pre-tax. Discussions are still taking place so it has not been finalised and I gather HMRC have been involved in the discussions because of the tax implications. As far as I can make out the amount just replaces the housing allowance so there will still be other expenses eg for staffing and secretarial help. Now most of our legislation comes from Brussels perhaps we could reduce the burden on a long-suffering public by cutting the number of MPs drastically.