Brown’s lose-lose position will prevent our broken politics from being fixed

An intriguing item in today’s Telegraph, which suggests Brown is planning to offer MPs a pay-rise to stem backbench anger over both the Legg and Kelly reviews into expenses.  The idea is to boost the standard MP’s salary by about £3,000 and pay for it by cutting ministers’ salaries – so there’d be no further cost to the taxpayer.  But you imagine even that fact won’t rally much public support for this idea.

As I’ve written before, proposals to raise MPs’ pay shouldn’t be dismissed out of hand.  But it’s dispiriting that these latest plans are all about saving Brown’s hide, and have come about without consulting voters.  It’s also indicative of the position our PM finds himself in.  Everything is a potential lose-lose situation, as he’s stuck between the public on one side and his dissatisfied colleagues on the other.  In the meantime, there’s very little chance that our broken politics will get fixed for good.