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It had to happen, the public are starting to get fed up with the intrusive prodding and abject humiliation which is the expenses row.
Stands to reason if you take on the most powerful people in the UK they will bite back, this morning, it was via that programme we all watch to kill time before The Politics Show.
Stands to reason if you take on the most powerful people in the UK they will bite back, this morning, it was via that programme we all watch to kill time before The Politics Show.
The headline on The Big Questions this morning was Is It The Daily Telegraph's Fault?
Erm, I'm a big a fan as the next about squeezing every possible follow up out of a story however this did seem a little ridiculous.
Was it the Daily Telegraph that forced former Cabinet Minister Douglas Hogg to claim for cleaning out his moat, was it they who convinced NI Secretary of State Shaun Woodward it would be a good idea to dodge a capital gains tax bill of more than a million pounds when selling his mansion to rock god Sting, did they convince First Minister Peter Robinson to rack up a £30,000 food bill, well did they? I could go on but you get the picture.
Of course the Daily Telegraph are not whiter than white, Lord no, they claimed they wanted to clean out the ridiculousness of expenses but really just wanted to pimp up their circulation figures in a time when newspapers seem to be dying.
But that didn't stop selected members of the public, probably overpaid employees of some of the over claiming MP's from ranting about the Daily Telegraph, oh no.
Some of the backlash must be biting because the Telly, if I may be so bold, have removed the excellent expenses section from the front page of their website
Of course this backlash should have been expected, politicians will do anything, suggest anything, fill any room full of their supporters.....
The Belfast Telegraph's David Gordon found this to his amusement after he was the only hack barred from interviewing Ian Paisley on his resignation for his efforts in exposing Ian Og.
Lesson to politicians, when you find yourself in a tight position, best just humbly apologise, act repentant and promise to amend your ways, Ok it seems even more humiliating but it does shut down the stories instead of hiding or even worse lashing out.
Of course sometimes survival is just brazening it out a la Ian Paisley but then that's a whole new can of worms best not opened at this point.
Here endeth the rant.
The Daily Telegraph have milked this too far ... I suspect to get every penny worth of their investment back.
ReplyDeleteI am not surprised that they will face brick walls now amongst politicians and civil servants. They pushed it too far.
They have expanded on the idea of democracy and accountability, to an extent to their credit but pushed it too far putting people off politics and off democracy.
The Telegraph might prefer benign dictatorship but democracy and Parliament have been undermined.
However that said it in no way takes away from what some of our MP's have claimed for and they should hang their heads in shame. Particularly after all the complaining they did about bankers running away with large bonuses.