Attack the guilty and leave the innocent alone
Some MPs and MEPs have brought disgrace on their country and damaged their own parties by misusing the system of parliamentary allowances.
There have been unfortunate examples in most parties of inappropriate behaviour and it is the responsibility of all parties to see that those responsible are dealt with. This cannot be tolerated whoever does it.
That is why David Cameron has effectively sacked a number of MPs and MEPs and he was right to do so.
It is equally important not to blacken the name of politics further by going after the innocent.
It is patently obvious that MPs cannot possibly represent an area like, say, Copeland properly unless some arrangement is made to enable them to live in or near Westminster when parliament is sitting and their constituency when it is not. Equally, there have to be clear rules to ensure that the payments available to support second homes are not abused.
It has also been sadly obvious that some of the MPs - in, alas, more than one party - who have been criticised for the way they claimed the second homes allowance have questions to answer.
It is equally obvious that some of the criticisms made have been blatant smears. Unfortunately one side effect of the bad behaviour of the few has been to make it more likely that people will believe other accusations of similar behaviour even when those accusations are not in fact justified. This article on Conservative Home by Dr Julian Lewis responding to false attacks made against him illustrates the point.
There have been unfortunate examples in most parties of inappropriate behaviour and it is the responsibility of all parties to see that those responsible are dealt with. This cannot be tolerated whoever does it.
That is why David Cameron has effectively sacked a number of MPs and MEPs and he was right to do so.
It is equally important not to blacken the name of politics further by going after the innocent.
It is patently obvious that MPs cannot possibly represent an area like, say, Copeland properly unless some arrangement is made to enable them to live in or near Westminster when parliament is sitting and their constituency when it is not. Equally, there have to be clear rules to ensure that the payments available to support second homes are not abused.
It has also been sadly obvious that some of the MPs - in, alas, more than one party - who have been criticised for the way they claimed the second homes allowance have questions to answer.
It is equally obvious that some of the criticisms made have been blatant smears. Unfortunately one side effect of the bad behaviour of the few has been to make it more likely that people will believe other accusations of similar behaviour even when those accusations are not in fact justified. This article on Conservative Home by Dr Julian Lewis responding to false attacks made against him illustrates the point.
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