So Tory MP Derek Conway apologises unreservedly for misusing thousands of pounds of his staffing allowance, supposedly employing his son who, we are told, was at university.
Misusing? If that had been you or I, we would have been arrested for fraud and/or theft, never mind being given the option of resigning your seat at the next election.
Perhaps I should try my hand at this MP business - it sounds lucrative to me.
You help make rules for other people that you can then ignore yourselves - smoking in bars, voting yourself a pay rise every year, usually above the rate of inflation, claiming expenses up to a certain amount without having to produce a receipt.
Where else would all this be allowed?
Mind you, if a former Whip doesn't know how to keep prying eyes out of his financial affairs, perhaps all of us new boys had better watch out.
On the other hand, I remember the old adage - never turn a skilled man into a foreman.
Perhaps the same principle is used with MPs and Whips.
MICHAEL HEAVEY Oxford Road Old Marston Oxford
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