British MP's....pay back the money and if you have the guts, resign

The revelations of MP's expenses continue to be revealed by the Telegraph.Politicians from all parties squirm under the spotlight as their greed is shown to the world.They would appear to have routinely added about £20,000 per annum to their salaries by claiming for items as diverse and perverse as housekeepers, bathplugs,shopping.Although the rules state that claims should only be made for " expenses wholly, exclusively and necessarily incurred when staying overnight away from their main UK residence (referred to below as their main home) for the purpose of performing Parliamentary duties. This excludes expenses that have been incurred for purely personal or political purposes. " there have been claims made for such things as a moat to be cleared, pipe under tennis court to be fixed,fake Tudor beams to be added to front of house.


I, and the majority of the country ( I would imagine) sit back and gasp as each allegation is unveiled.Every morning I am amazed at the fresh claims put forward by the newspaper.The Speaker of the House of Commons seems only appalled at the fact that this has been leaked.He talks of the police becoming involved to sort out whoever revealed the facts.


He needs to wake up and smell the coffee.Whoever leaked this should be included in the Honours list as he or she would appear to be the only one with any honour throughout this whole embarrassing farce.


This has been going on for decades.MP's lining their pockets as part of the "perks" of the job.Nobody broke rank and questioned whether this was all above board.I heard an MP on the radio commenting on how hard done by she was and that she could earn far more if she had stayed working as a lawyer, that she used her expenses and a large part of her salary to pay for staff at the Commons.My thoughts were that I would have no objection to her paying for much needed staff, but also that if she felt so hard done by maybe she should go back to being a lawyer.Nobody forced her to be an MP.


The general impression given by these people is that they are angry with us, the public, for criticising them, for finding out their guilty secret.It is as if they are doing us all a huge favour and we owe them their £20,000+ per annum expenses.How dare we criticise them?How dare we not respect them, with their second homes and swimming pools and moats?


I am happy for someone to claim £20,000 if they live in Yorkshire and have to pay for a flat in London so they can live there during the week while Parliament is in session.But it is not right for you to live 30 minutes from London and have second or third houses all over the place which you want me as a taxpayer to subsidise.I read somewhere that anybody carrying on this way in a private company would be sacked and have the police knocking on their door.


As I said before.Shame on you MP's.Pay back the money and, if you have the guts, resign.