ABC of Parliamentary Smear Test

There is an extraordinary atmosphere in the House this week with Backbenchers bending forwards at the sight of their Telegraph tail-wagging peers and Labour Ministers and Conservative Shadow Ministers trying to outdo each other to apologise and plead for their forgiveness.

Fortunately I am too new and too independent to get mixed up in this mess so I can hold my head up high.

Unfortunately they have still not learned their lesson. My constituency are not bothered about the £800 television or £8,000 furniture bill they are disgusted at the:

• Audacity of MP's to even claim for things that are non-essential
• Bureaucracy that failed stop these claims being settled
• Constitutional failure that has let MP's decide what and how they can get away with such behaviour.

London MP's do not need a second home - they can commute like everyone else does.

Other MP's can move to their constituency area, as required anyway, and when in London they can stay at hotels as directed by a Government Contract with London Hotels at contracted prices. In time maybe a suitable premises for a Parliamentary Club could be found where MP's can stay and be fed or flats could be purchased by the Governement and provided for MP's use.

Furthermore its time we had an external body to monitor parliament just like the watchdogs that monitor electrircity, water etc. However it should not be made up of MP's or Lords but a sample of ordinary voters.

The feeling is far deeper than politicians realise. The apologies of Cameron and Brown glide smoothly over the heads of voters whose "lost interest in politics" has now been re-discovered but for the wrong reasons.