Cut 'Em Some Slack!

Listen. Isn't it about time we cut these MPs a little bit of slack? Sure, they've been relentlessly dipping into the taxpayers’ pockets for decades. But I’m afraid this is the Britain WE have built. This is the legacy of the hero generation; the group of people that accepted extreme threat and privation through the best part of six years of war to preserve our freedom. Unfortunately, we have sat back for the last 30 years and enabled Thatcher, Blair and Brown to unpick hundreds of years of growing freedom. We allowed Thatcher to destroy concepts of collective responsibility and “first among equals,” tolerating her shift to cabinet committees as a method of political management. Then we accepted Blair’s spin-based methodology of shipping in ex-Fleet Street hacks to bully existing journalists into submission from the powerbase of his kitchen cabinet. It should therefore be unsurprising that our current herd of lobby-fodder MPs are only in it for the perks. It’s not like the average back bencher has any power anymore. 15 years ago, the average local authority middle-manager would be energised into action by a letter from the local MP. Now he/she just rolls his/her eyes and shrugs his/her shoulders. And what can said MP do? Very little. Until we find some way to get back to vesting independent power in the hands of MPs nothing will change. So let them brass-face the embarrassment of their tennis court leaks, moat cleaning and multiple property flips. But sooner or later please let’s get to the heart of the real issue. I want my democracy back!