Rob Wilson's Westminster Diary, October 15, 2009

Rob Wilson MP • Published 15 Oct 2009 10:00 0 Comments

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WESTMINSTER has finally returned, almost three months after rising for the summer recess.

It's like we never went away, because the first day back was dominated by MPs' expenses.

Over the summer Sir Thomas Legg has been sifting through all MPs' claims dating back to 2004-05 and we all got a letter (even those of us who didn't claim) on our return to the House. I'm not going over the expenses scandal again here, but I did see the collection of the brown envelopes in the Members Lobby as I went back and forth to the Chamber, where I was running the business for the Opposition. What I saw left me with a heavy heart.

For those of you who don't know about the Members Lobby (you may if you've done the tour), it has two racks either side of the door to the Commons Chamber - one for letters and the other for messages. Behind one of these racks is a small room where bulkier papers can be collected, for example for Select Committees.

The Legg letters finally arrived at about 5pm having been promised at 2.30pm and there developed what can only be described as a scrum of bodies in the little room behind the letter rack.

Alongside this scrum developed a line of reporters, mainly from TV, taking great delight at proceedings. The journalists were waiting for reactions - gasps, laughter, tears or joy, somebody to say something stupid off the cuff, anything to "take the story on" as they say in media jargon.

My feeling was one of sorrow, how a great institution and its Members had been brought to this. Yes, much of it is self-inflicted and unworthy, but scuttling around after a letter from a former civil servant, watched salaciously by journalists? Is this what we want our MPs to be like? Punishment is one thing, humiliation is quite another.

The process mixed the saints, sinners and the downright dodgy, making no judgement on the difference in behaviour that had taken place. It reflected a general view that we are "all the same". The truth is MPs reflect other walks of life - there is the good, the bad and all the shades in between.

But the media and the public have now largely lost the ability to see MPs as individual people and treat us as a single entity.

I hope this was the bottom and from now on Parliament can renew, rebuild and restore people's trust. But I'm not sure the renewal and healing process can properly begin until we have had a General Election.

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