Policy Research Media Morhamburn

Hmmm, MPs as victims – it just doesn’t sound right does it? The public have become so full of antipathy towards our representatives that much respect has drained away, taking with it any chance of public sympathy.

Retrospectively applying limits is unusual, but this was never about rules, as much as it was about making judgements as to what was right, moral and would be acceptable to their constituents. This is one side of the debate.

The other perspective is, that desperate to make up for a deeply-flawed system, MPs who acted in good faith and within the system to which they were bound at the time are being scapegoated by the powers-that-be in an attempt to calm public anger.

Some MPs are so furious that they are risking the opprobrium of their leaders in order to make a point of principle. And while taking a moral stand on this issue has about it a whiff of irony, it does highlight the genuine sense of grievance that many parliamentarians feel.

Whatever your point of view, what is undeniable is the fact that the whole affair has been a disaster, and this ‘resolution’ has served only to pour oil on what were becoming the dyeing embers of the fire; after all the media and their ADHD-like attention span had long since moved on to other matters, taking the public with them.

The way in which this matter has come about and subsequently been dealt with has lurched from embarrassing aloofness to phoney populism with amazing alacrity; an alacrity that belies any real repentance or genuine change of culture.

Ultimately, the resolution is likely to be delivered at the 2010 General Election by way of a handful of Martin Bell-type MPs being returned amid yet another fall in voter turnout.