In responding as they did to the Daily Telegraph ‘sting’, Jack Straw and Sir Malcolm Rifkind may well have done nothing wrong by the letter of parliamentary law. But people’s perception of behaviour is quite another matter. The MPs’ bloated self-importance and Rifkind’s shameful defence of his actions, that no one would want to become an MP unless they could also line their pockets, did them no credit at all.
The ancients knew all about this sort of thing. Roman senators, for example, made millions if they were posted abroad to run provinces. As cynics said, they had to make three fortunes: one to recoup election expenses from climbing the greasy pole; one to bribe the jury on charges of provincial mismanagement; and one to live off in exile thereafter.
On the other hand, the Athenian orator Hyperides (389-322 BC) suggested that there was a distinction to be made between those statesman and soldiers who made large profits simply to enrich themselves and those who did so in the interests of the people; while the Athenian Democritus (5th century BC) pointed out that, if you wanted to strengthen concord in the community, there was nothing like the rich giving to the poor.
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