Member News
By Sam Macrory - 3rd December 2010
The all-frightening shadow of ‘The Ipsa’ hung terrifyingly over the House of Commons yesterday afternoon.
Like an unseen, malevolent higher body from an unsubtle science fiction novel, 'The Ipsa’ cruelly rules over the lives of mere mortal politicians.
At least, that was the impression they gave as they gathered to discuss the evils of their tormentor.
“Ipsa can control the way MPs work”, cried Adam Afriyie, the Conservative backbencher who called the debate. It was “an expensive all-consuming bureaucratic monster”, wailed Labour’s Ann Clwyd.
The Ipsa, otherwise known as the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, is the villainous overlord which rules over the MPs’ expenses regime. Hastily designed in the wake of last summer’s reputation-destroying scandal, it was created by the people who now find serve as its subjects. And they are now on the edge of revolting.
Afriyie, the Conservative backbencher whose comfortable bank account allows him to remain free of Ipsa’s grasp, broke cover to air the grievances of the masses. It was hardly a speech to rank among the finest orations in Parliamentary history, but Afriyie is, for a while, a hero to his downtrodden colleagues.
At one point he announced: “I am not moaning on behalf of existing MPs. I love all the MPs here”. More than one MP cried back: “we love you too”, briefly giving the chamber the feeling of a self-help gathering.
But this wasn’t, Afriyie insisted, “whingeing” on behalf of MPs. In fact, to the delight of cynics everywhere, Afriyie’s real concern was “the function of Parliament for the next 100 years.”
At one, MPs leapt over the parapet to stand alongside Afrieye. “I no longer care - I have gone way past the stage of caring-what the national media may or may not say about me and my expenses”, shouted Colchester’s Lib Dem MP Bob Russell.
There was a “climate of fear and distrust” added the Conservative veteran Roger Gale. Even the most inexperienced of their number, those free from the scars of the bad old days, joined the attacks, with George Freeman of the 2010 intake telling MPs that he approached “the Ipsa “with trepidation as if it were there to catch me out rather than help.”
But while their tempers were high, the voices were few. The chamber was remarkably empty, with Clwyd suspecting that “there would have been many more members here today if they were not still fearful of the press” and its bloodthirsty reporting of the MPs saga. Funnily enough, The Ipsa had just that very morning reported the latest round of dubious claims.
Not to be put off, one audience member stared on with rapt attention, eyes unblinking and head resting on the benches in front. Sadie, the guide dog of former home secretary David Blunkett, was gripped by proceedings. “The dog has claimed no allowances whatever”, Blunkett insisted in case any angry constituents had tuned into to watch the showdown.
Paranoia was everywhere. Clwyd provocatively wondered how the media managed to get hold of so many expenses-related stories “unless somebody at Ipsa leaked it to them?” Unfortunately for her, the all-seeing eye of The Ipsa was watching: it quickly issued an angry rebuttal. Clwyd should prepare for more monster-ish bureaucracy to head her way.
One lone voice was heard defending the regime, handing in his popularity amongst MPs in the process. The principle, stated Labour MP John Mann, was whether MPs “should cede our ability to determine how the rules on expenses are set and managed to an independent body or not?” Telling MPs that “the wrath of our constituents will rightfully fall on us” if the rules were changed, Mann found himself heckled and jeered. Sadie shook her head sadly. Refusing to be put off, Mann undid the whole argument of the day by declaring that he was able to do his job just as well as he had in pre-Ipsa days. But now, perhaps, with added graffiti on his office door.
The Ipsa’s own door, however, remains closed. MPs have bullishly set their paymaster a month to revise the rules and regulation. The Ipsa has listened, and it won’t have liked what it has heard.
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