Martin Salter's Westminster Diary, April 23, 2009

Martin Salter MP • Published 23 Apr 2009 09:00 0 Comments

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BEING Budget week there's half a chance Westminster will actually get back to discussing policies rather than personalities.

I am heartily sick of phone calls from national journalists inviting me to slag off fellow MPs for claiming for a second home while representing constituencies closer to the Commons than Reading West.

I've also been disgusted by the depths to which people in all political parties are prepared to sink to smear their opponents.

The advent of political blogging has been a major factor in dragging politics further into the gutter because it has given a licence for some to smear and libel those they disagree with or dislike with impunity. I look forward to the day some of these self-appointed supremos of the political blogosphere have to justify themselves, and their lies and rumours, in a court of law.

Four years ago last month I won my libel action against the Conservative Party chairman, Liam Fox, and the Conservative candidates for Reading West and East for seeking to smear me ahead of the 2004 local elections. This is one of the reasons I am a little cynical about David Cameron's promise to clean up politics when he still has some of these smear merchants in his Shadow Cabinet and front bench team. At least Gordon Brown sacked the odious Damian McBride!

This week has also seen an announcement from the Government to reform the system of MPs' allowances and bear down on those who draw full-time salaries from the taxpayer yet take second jobs, or sit on company boards. There are also proposals for MPs' staff to be employed directly by the Commons and to replace the second home allowance with a flat overnight rate based on actual Westminster attendance.

These are sensible proposals and reflect calls I made in my 2007 Private Member's Bill to end MPs moonlighting, and in this column last year, when I wrote: "All MPs should be forced to work full-time for their £61,000-a-year salary and outside business interests and directorships should be banned. … Representing 70,000 constituents is a full time job. There should be a centrally administered budget to employ staff working for MPs … and MPs should no longer manage their own payroll. This would ensure the scandal of Derek Conway employing his family members to do next to no work could never be repeated."

Ah well, better late than never!

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This blog appeared in Reading Chronicle 23 Apr 09

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