spectator's notes, The

In the great row about MPs' expenses, which big party looks worse so far?

It is a difficult question to answer.It's part and parcel of the same problem that afflicted the city bankers. High on fat salaries and bonuses they thought it was normal to have a yacht or two, children at finishing school and several homes. And we all know how that turned out..I am writing this column, by the way, in Englefield, the astonishing Victorian palace of Richard Benyon, the Conservative MP for Newbury. Its demesne is so extensive that it encompasses an entire village. Richard assures me that he has never attempted to argue that Englefield is his second home.Now Gids is locked away coming up with a ballpark of how much we might have to pay back. We can't find out if we can afford it because Lord A is holed up in the basement with Merlin the computer, which has apparently malfunctioned completely. As if we weren't in enough trouble without losing every bit of polling and target seats data we possess!ThursdayThe second problem is that the assumption behind the idea of 'proper' better people would be attracted to the life. Is there any evidence for this at all?I don't have any chandeliers that need cleaning or moats to dredge, but I'm wondering if I can get away with claiming for a new wardrobe of clothes on the grounds that as a fashion writer I can't possibly wear the same thing twice.At the next election, there will surely be the biggest anti-incumbency vote in history. The longer your experience of Parliament, the less likely the voter is to respect you. If the parties enter the election campaign heedless of this, they will suffer tremendously, losing whichever MPs have behaved badly, as voters, through the power of the internet and careful study of the Daily Telegraph, point out to one another what their local man has been up to. Wouldn't the leader do well to anticipate this? David Cameron, who has already got well ahead of Gordon Brown in reaction to the disaster, should consider asking all sitting Conservative MPs to offer themselves now for reselection by their constituency associations. Most associations, reasonably enough, would choose the sitting person without a contest. But there would be a significant minority of cases where the wretch would be thrown out, and a more likely winner inserted.That will be much simpler. Meanwhile Dave wants an estimate of how many MPs he can 'discipline'. I don't know why he always has to get kinky when these crises hit us.What really does shock me is how much some MPs work. I heard Sir Patrick Cormack, for instance, saying that he gets into the office at seven in the morning, and is often there until ten at night. Why? What an unbelievable waste of time! One can have no sympathy at all with backbenchers who do so much. If it is mostly constituency business, it only shows how inefficient they are being and how poorly they are delegating to elected councillors. It is very unlikely nowadays that the work is on the proper scrutiny of legislation. That really does take long hours, but these have now been forbidden by the executive-controlled rules. So all those hours are just symptoms of self-importance. One only hopes that people like Sir Patrick are lying, and that really they sneak off to enjoy the enormous holidays (roughly four months of the year), or to earn money by honest extra-parliamentary methods.But this week, for some reason, I am feeling inspired.

Many Benyons have been Members of Parliament. The one who built the present house sat in the Commons for 16 years, and never made a speech. Disraeli once asked him to reply to the Loyal Address, and he had to explain that he did not do that sort of thing. No pay, no allowances, no speeches: everyone was happy.

Author: MOORE, CHARLES