# What do foreign Dopers think about the UK expenses scandal? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 11, 2009, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-foreign-dopers-think-about-the-uk-expenses-scandal/496040 "2009-05-11T15:57:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![NineToTheSky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5a626/32.png) [@NineToTheSky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NineToTheSky)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2009, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-foreign-dopers-think-about-the-uk-expenses-scandal/496040/81 "2009-05-22T15:39:01Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > But the guilty MPs are from all three parties, right? Five, if you want to include UKIP and Sinn Fein. ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2009, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-foreign-dopers-think-about-the-uk-expenses-scandal/496040/82 "2009-05-22T15:42:47Z")
> [@NineToTheSky](#): > > Five, if you want to include UKIP and Sinn Fein. I don’t think there any UKIP MPs in Parliament. ---
**Author:** ![NineToTheSky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5a626/32.png) [@NineToTheSky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NineToTheSky)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2009, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-foreign-dopers-think-about-the-uk-expenses-scandal/496040/83 "2009-05-22T15:46:11Z")
> [@Rayne\_Man](#): > > I don’t think there any UKIP MPs in Parliament. Bob Spink is their first MP, though it was two of their MEPs who were fraudulent. ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2009, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-foreign-dopers-think-about-the-uk-expenses-scandal/496040/84 "2009-05-22T16:16:38Z")
> [@NineToTheSky](#): > > Bob Spink is their first MP, though it was two of their MEPs who were fraudulent. I forgot about him, he defected from the Conservatives. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2009, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-foreign-dopers-think-about-the-uk-expenses-scandal/496040/85 "2009-05-22T16:50:52Z")
Why do MEPs get London allowances? ---
**Author:** ![NineToTheSky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5a626/32.png) [@NineToTheSky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NineToTheSky)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2009, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-foreign-dopers-think-about-the-uk-expenses-scandal/496040/86 "2009-05-22T17:02:44Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Why do MEPs get London allowances? This case wasn’t about London allowances, but claiming for a non-existent assistant’s wages. See the story [here](http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article1434608.ece). ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2009, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-foreign-dopers-think-about-the-uk-expenses-scandal/496040/87 "2009-05-22T17:06:14Z")
Bloody hell. > [@](#): > > An e-mail, sent last April by Andrew Smith, then the party’s treasurer, to various senior members, reveals the degree to which it intended to mislead the commission. > > “We need to give the Electoral Commission every reason to believe we are serious about compliance, in order to provide the next party treasurer with a good story to tell when we next fail to meet the statutory requirements,” he wrote. That kind of gall is almost… impressive. ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2009, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-foreign-dopers-think-about-the-uk-expenses-scandal/496040/88 "2009-05-22T17:40:56Z")
> [@NineToTheSky](#): > > Yes, people did get very upset about that. But Thatcher managed to divide the country over most issues (the miners for another example). This time we’re united. As a die hard Manchester City supporter I resent your closing para 😉 But yes, we are as one ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2009, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-foreign-dopers-think-about-the-uk-expenses-scandal/496040/89 "2009-05-22T17:44:25Z")
> [@chowder](#): > > Tough titty lady, you should have thought about that before you dipped your conk into what you and your ilk thought was a bottomless well It used to be that a gentleman or lady in such circumstances would use a revolver and ‘do the decent thing’. ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2009, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-foreign-dopers-think-about-the-uk-expenses-scandal/496040/90 "2009-05-23T07:11:15Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > It used to be that a gentleman or lady in such circumstances would use a revolver and ‘do the decent thing’. Guns being in rather short supply in the UK do you think they might still do the decent thing and fall on their swords? …or any pointy thing come to that ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2009, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-foreign-dopers-think-about-the-uk-expenses-scandal/496040/91 "2009-05-23T12:24:07Z")
So listen to this and slit your wrists. [This](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8062205.stm) ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2009, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-foreign-dopers-think-about-the-uk-expenses-scandal/496040/92 "2009-05-23T12:46:39Z")
How dare we interfere in his private life (even though it is subsidised by the taxpayers). It’s all the fault of the Freedom Of Information Act! That confirms that some MPs are living in a parallel universe to the rest of us. According to today’s \*Times \* several MPs who attended public meetings last night were continually heckled and abused by very angry members of the various audiences. I wonder why? It’s all jealousy I suppose. [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article6345993.ece](http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article6345993.ece) ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2009, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-foreign-dopers-think-about-the-uk-expenses-scandal/496040/93 "2009-05-23T13:06:02Z")
That Steen guy really got my hackles up. Fancy having the hide to bring in FOI legislation and catching my rorts! Our politicians are not paragons of virtue but you have ones that leave us for dead! ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2009, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-foreign-dopers-think-about-the-uk-expenses-scandal/496040/94 "2009-05-23T14:54:14Z")
> [@Cicero](#): > > So listen to this and slit your wrists. > > [This](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8062205.stm) Amazing. Truly-fucking-amazing. How dare we, how _very_ dare we ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2009, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-foreign-dopers-think-about-the-uk-expenses-scandal/496040/95 "2009-05-23T17:06:33Z")
I like that he claimed everybody was jealous of his house and then in nearly the same breath said, “it’s not particularly nice… it does me nicely.” You know, I used to make fun of Paddy Ashdown when I lived in Yeovil, but it seems that “boring and honest” is about as much as you can hope for in an MP. ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2009, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-foreign-dopers-think-about-the-uk-expenses-scandal/496040/96 "2009-05-23T17:16:01Z")
Have you noticed that all these MPs have sodding big posh houses/flats dotted about the UK? Nicely furnished with moats, duck houses,electric security gates etc.etc. They must be quite well off to be able to afford all that…oh wait… ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2009, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-foreign-dopers-think-about-the-uk-expenses-scandal/496040/97 "2009-05-23T19:05:42Z")
I think there is something to be said for the idea that they have concocted this generous expenses system to compensate for MP’s salaries being held artificially low, to appease the voters. Perhaps we would be better to just pay them a more realistic salary? The current MP’s salary is what, £65K? That may sound a lot, but it’s pathetic compared to what they could be earning. These people are ambitious high-flyers. In non-political jobs, most of them could be earning well into six figures like, for example, the journalists who are reporting the story. ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2009, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-foreign-dopers-think-about-the-uk-expenses-scandal/496040/98 "2009-05-23T19:25:13Z")
I agree with the above. That £65,000 is low compared to say the headmaster of a large secondary school or a GP, both of whom would be earning over £100k. Ann Widdecombe made a very pertinent point on this matter. She said that unless you pay MPs a living wage, then (as happened in the past) Parliament would only be populated by people with a private fortune (usually Conservatives) or those sponsored by the trade unions (usually Labour). That is not a representative mix of the general population. God, I would never have thought I would ever agree with the sainted Miss Widdecombe! ---
**Author:** ![fortytwo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f9ae1b/32.png) [@fortytwo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fortytwo)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2009, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-foreign-dopers-think-about-the-uk-expenses-scandal/496040/99 "2009-05-23T21:31:12Z")
This is absolutely nothing to do with salaries. Those members who have been caught out have come from all parties and financial backgrounds. Increasing salaries would have no affect on that type of person. In some cases there probably were genuine mistakes made but in the majority it was plain greed. It seems that fraud has been carried out too and if proved prosecutions should follow. Rewarding them with an increase in pay is really going to improve their image. They vote on their own pay and their own pension scheme. It’s like a cosy little club, insulated from reality. Most of those caught were only sorry for getting caught, not for what they did. It’s a fallacy too that most mps would earn more money outside politics. > **[BBC NEWS | UK | UK Politics | Ex-MPs 'struggle to find new job'](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/7064086.stm)** > > Many MPs struggle to find a new job after losing their seat and end up earning less than they had done in the House of Commons, a study suggests. That’s an old survey - an academic on the radio recently quoted a later one where it showed even more emphatically how little their skills are worth in the real world. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2009, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-foreign-dopers-think-about-the-uk-expenses-scandal/496040/100 "2009-05-23T22:18:16Z")
The evidence mentioned in that link does not seem particularly compelling. They merely interviewed some MPs, many of whom were apparently retiring anyway. Getting on for half of the others (if I am correctly interpreting the rather ambiguous statements in the news item) said that they were earning more than in Parliament, and bear in mind that hardly anybody answers that question honestly. If you have “former Member of Parliament” on your resumé and still can’t clear £65K per year… I’m sorry, I just don’t believe it. Get a better agent. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-foreign-dopers-think-about-the-uk-expenses-scandal/496040.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-foreign-dopers-think-about-the-uk-expenses-scandal/496040.md?page=6)