I loved this from Sir Anthony Steen, said on the World at One, quoted in the Guardian:
This was no fault on my part. We have a wretched government here which has completely mucked up the system and caused the resignation of me and many others because it was this government that introduced freedom of information.
Time and again we’re told by those in the Crown Dependencies that people’s private affairs are no-one’s business but their own.
Sorry, that’s not true.
You see, dodging tax legally from behind a veil of secrecy is exactly the same as making an abusive but legal expense claim in the House of Commons from behind a veil of secrecy. Both abuse the public purse. Both have to stop.
PS: He even had the temerity to offer the same explanation of those who protest about those who complain as do those who do likewise in the Crown Dependencies:
Do you know what this is about? Jealousy.
Oh no it isn’t. Wanting to uphold the rule of law, striving for ethical behaviour and seeking to ensure all are treated equally is not about jealousy. It is about justice. And that’s very, very different. Jealousy is driven by a lack of compassion for the condition of another human being, justice by the exact opposite. You’re wrong Sir Anthony: we’re better off without you. The only concern is that you’ll be replaced by someone worse.
And that’s why we need electoral reform, now.
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He also invoked his right to privacy. Of course, he has a right to privacy, but not when he is living high on the hog at the expense of the public. If he wants privacy, don’t take money from the public!
In my view the Anthony Steens of this world show themselves to be so far removed from the realities faced by the vast najority of the populatinn that they are completely unfit to represent them as MPs, even ignoring in his case possible abuse of his axpenese.
There are lessons here from the French, where a “let them eat cake” attitude from those utterly divorced from the society in which they lived used to mean a swift one way trip to see Madame Guillotine.
Yes, I know people who are jealous. There is this guy earning over £95 a week who cannot get care for his wife who has had several strokes, and has had to go through the winter without heating. As he actually gets £155 a week, wow!, the DHSS has him down as one of the fat cats. There are a million or two out there like that or worse, and they are all really really jealous. The little people’s hearts are all bleeding for Steen. It must be terrible to have people like this knowing they are paying for your property portfolio and overseas investments.