MPs and their shameful lot

'Shame' seems to be the political word of the moment, closely followed by 'abuse', 'scandal' and 'fraud'.

To be honest, many of the revelations of MPs' expenses leave me unmoved and not even warm under the collar. Others are unwise and certainly regrettable. Others still seem to be outright fraud.

Unfortunately, the media and, most importantly, the wide public are now treating almost any allowance or expenses claim, beyond an MP's salary, as a disgraceful act of theft.

How the mighty are fallen!

It might be remembered (although Tory and LibDem MPs have yet to be fingered) that these 'abuses' seem to have ballooned under a profligate Labour government, in which it is second nature for MPs of that party to regard access to public funds as a 'people's right '.

The touchy point that the taxpayers paying for these MPs' benefits come from all parties and all classes – including the poor – becomes an insignificance when Labour mistakenly still sees itself as a government of the people, by the people, for the people.

With Gordon Brown spraying taxpayers' money around like water for a decade, where has been the incentive for MPs to do other than grab their share?