As we are treated to the early stages of the 2015 General Election Campaign one of the themes that will be a constant matter of debate over the next 20 months is the quality and integrity of our Political representatives. The election countdown seemed to begin with the ‘go home’ vans believed to be the handywork of Lynton Crosby, the Campaign Manager for the Tories and their recruitment of Jim Messina, Obamas Campaign Manager. They are running a negative campaign with a calculator that purports to tell us how much the Labour Party would have cost us had they won the 2010 election. More information on this can be found on this blog from the Political Idealist. For Labour we have had a series of comments by current and past Ministers wanting the Party to come out with a clear offer and attacking or defending Ed Miliband. The benefit of a fixed term Parliament in terms of stable government is counterbalanced by a long countdown to a date that all of us are aware of, whether we want to know or not!

These reflections are based on three sources. The first is a 3 year old  interview of Martin Bell  by an impressive 13 year old Lincolnshire student filmed two months before the last General Election. The four minute conversation speaks of Parliamentary corruption as bad in 2010 as it had ever been. Of course two months later a number of Politicians left the Commons never to return. Perhaps Martin would take a different line now? On Friday Radio 4 Any Questions included a question from Richard Cupbush who asked the panel if they would be pleased if their children were to announce their intention to become a Politician.  All 4 members claimed they would be very happy if that did happen. The only woman on the panel (consistent with the ratio in the House Of Commons perhaps!) was Journalist Alison Wolf who proclaimed “our Politicians are better than we deserve, given that it is a hellish life”. The last panel member to speak was Iain Dale who had been a Conservative candidate in the 2005 election, Iain claims that he knows over half the MPs in the Commons and that 95% or more of these are entirely honourable. He pointed out that perhaps as listeners we might struggle to say the same about where we work! Yesterday a red top published a story which needs to be read with a little caution. This report from the Mail on Sunday  points out that according to the accounts filed in Parliament, more MPs are paying relatives than was the case in 2009 when in the wake of the expenses scandal the Committee on Standards in Public Life recommended a ban on MPs employing relatives as it was “not consistent with modern employment practice designed to ensure fairness in recruitment, management of staff and remuneration”. The caution I refer to is that this story is based on accounts filed in 2012 and there is no explanation as to why the 2013 figures have not been included. Perhaps Iain Dale was thinking of Journalists as one of the groups whose integrity was not at 95%!

I personally know a small number of MPs representing all parties who I also believe to be honourable. However I find Martin Bell who I have met, a bit more convincing in his reflections than Iain Dale, in part because Martin seems to have nothing to gain by his view, and even Iain Dale began his statement by accepting that the MPs had not covered themselves in any Glory. As a democrat I want Iain Dales confidence to be supported by any evidence so that we can all sleep well, but the story from the Mirror, even a year old doesn’t bode well for the MPs concerned. As I wrote on Saturday my confidence in the Tax Payers Alliance is not high, but even their Chief Executive, Matthew Sinclair is quoted as saying: “Politicians handing  unusually large salaries to family members, especially those working on a  part-time basis, should not be surprised if their constituents question the  value of the arrangement.” As we begin the 2015 election campaign in earnest, we need a positive campaign and we need to know that those seeking our votes, have learnt from the 2008 expenses debacle. Iain Dale suggests 95% or more are honourable, the Mirror story suggests that a year ago 22% were not as honourable as their colleagues felt that they should be. These are not people in the margins, several are Ministers or former Ministers. We need an intake of MPs in 2015 who really do live up to Alison Woolf’s high opinion, even if this means electing a number of people who like Martin Bell, are not members of a Political Party.