Has government lost its moral compass?

I have no idea whether the expenses claimed by Jacqui Smith for her sister's home in London are justified or not - I will leave any judgment to an enquiry which should be in possession of all the facts.



I do know, though, that I am heartily sick of our parliamentary rulers claiming that they have 'abided by the rules' rather than done what they believe to be honourable. We have had the same justification put forward by the 'cash for advice' Labour peers, by the candidates for the Labour Party deputy leadership - and even Gordon Brown has spent £9000 of taxpayers money on refurbishing his domestic kitchen. OK again it might be an entitlement but I've never had £9000 of taxpayers money to spend on my kitchen and I've never earned as much as Mr Brown does.



Yes I know that the Tories do it too and probably on a grander scale. But I don't expect any better from them. I do feel that the Labour Party should think long and hard before using - or abusing - the privileges granted to them by the terms of their parliamentary allowances. Instead, the very people who should be setting an example, particularly in times of economic crisis, seem to be scouring the small print to see what they can get away with - and that's a pretty unpalatable sight from a Party which used to claim the moral high ground.

We seem to have no moral leadership from our politicians and this is a time when the whole country - for many reasons - has never needed it more.