The real problem with our MPs: they’re obsessed with the super-rich

Had the public been asked, before Monday morning, to identify two MPs who stood for honesty and decency, the names Jack Straw and Sir Malcolm Rifkind would have been prominent among their replies. Both have served as foreign secretary, Straw also as home secretary and justice secretary. Neither seemed unduly driven by personal ambition, nor were they the worst offenders in the expenses scandal. Both are probably right in saying that they have not broken any rules when discussing work opportunities with employees of a Chinese company who turned out to be undercover Daily Telegraph reporters. But it is astonishing that both seemed to believe this sufficient to let them off the hook. It is galling, too, if you are a voter in Kensington, to hear your MP boasting of how much time he has on his hands and claiming that no one pays him a salary — when, of course, he is receiving £67,000 a year from taxpayers to be a backbench MP.