The Civil Servants are the Professionals, not the Politicians

Iain Dale gives a good explanation here as to why the expenses issue needs to be addressed now. But, who could possibly think otherwise? He is surely right that 'the overwhelming majority of MPs put the hours in and when Parliament isn't sitting, they are to be found doing constituency work," but, this is not really the main point.

The reason why greater swathes of the public appear to be less willing to give them any respect is because they increasingly see themselves as belonging to a 'profession', a tag which Iain also gives them. Technically this might be so, but conceptually politics in a democratic state is not a profession. This implies exclusivity and a requirement for expertise. Of course they need to be capable people, but what they really need is judgement and integrity, characteristics possessed by many ordinary people.

MPs are there to represent us, the people, who afford them the privilege of legislating and governing on our behalf. The professionals are the Civil Servants. They are the ones who implement policy, they are the ones expected to provide the professional expertise required in government. This separation of functions was once sacrosanct, but it has been grievously weakened by the professional pretensions of our MPs who are too busy seeking validation of their worth to govern properly.

It is this conceited, vain and misguided attitude that needs addressing. Do this and the other bits will follow.

The Real Culprits

Politicians will always tend to do two things when faced with things going wrong: Firstly, they will plead innocence and pretend that there was nothing they could have done about it. And secondly, they will do all they can to create a narrative that pins the blame on others, preferably their own traditional enemies. This is why Gordon Brown is pathologically incapable of admitting any error. It is also why he continues to pretend that the Americans caused the problem, in cahoots with rabid free marketeers in this country, allied to the bankers.

It is, therefore, refreshing to read this briefing paper from the Adam Smith Institute, that attempts to look at the problem afresh. The real culprits are, it argues: 1. loose monetary policy; 2. hubristic social engineering in housing policy; 3. the failure of the Basel protocols on core capital; 4. banks that were 'too big to fail; and 5. the effects of oligopoly on auditors and ratings agencies.

PM lashed by Daniel Hannan MEP

I've been away for a while, but this blast from Daniel Hannan MEP has cheered me up no end. If only the rest of his Party were so forthright, I could be entirely happy in supporting them. But as they are not, I am not. Thanks to Iain Dale for bringing this to our attention.