Citizensheep. "Michael Grimes lives in Birmingham (UK). This is his blog about anything that he fancies."

Recent revelations that British Members of Parliament have abused their expenses are pretty appalling. But maybe it’s society that needs to change its attitude, and not simply the MPs.

Yesterday Lord Foulkes challenged BBC presenter Carrie Gracie to reveal her salary. When she did, he lambasted her for daring to cross-examine him when her own salary of £92,000 is almost twice as much his.

I’m sorry, but that’s hardly the issue. Gracie replied that she uses her own phone rather than the BBC’s because she’s aware of spending public money. That may sound a little lame considering the size of her salary, but she’s absolutely right: it’s the attitude that’s the issue here, not the amount of money.

Lord Foulkes may be earning a lot less than Carrie Gracie, but he’s still earning a lot more than I do: and I consider myself well-paid. I work for a charity, which is funded in part by public money. I work from home, and I don’t claim for phone calls, electricity, or heating. (Maybe I should, in order to give the organisation a better picture of its financial position; but that’s for another post.)

Certainly I don’t expect people not to claim for expenses incurred in the performance of their job, but some moral integrity wouldn’t go amiss.

Which begs the question: would we be any different?

How many of those who have been so eager to criticise MPs’ use of expenses wouldn’t have done exactly the same given the chance? It would be interesting, for example, to see a freedom of information response on this from the Telegraph.

If such a request did show a similarity of behaviour, the defence – I should imagine – would be that it isn’t public money that they’re spending. True, but if someone takes advantage of expenses in the private sector, they’re unlikely to change their spots if they then move to the public sector.

It’s our attitude to money and to our behaviour in business and society that is important. If we don’t see ourselves as having a duty to behave responsibly with others, and within the society and communities in which we operate, then nothing will change; MPs will always act selfishly – even if they do it within the rules – because that’s what people do.

If we change the attitudes of people – of us – maybe we’ll have a greater chance of cleaning up parliamentary politics.

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Ramblings