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Monday, 10 December, 2001, 20:47 GMT
How can Parliament be policed?
The UK Parliamentary Standards Commissioner is stepping down, saying she has been undermined by the MPs she was hired to police.Disclaimer: The BBC will put up as many of your comments as possible but we cannot guarantee that all e-mails will be published. The BBC reserves the right to edit comments that are published.
Elizabeth Filkin told the BBC that she has been the subject of a whispering campaign since taking up the job in 1999.
She claims MPs from all major parties, including some Cabinet ministers, have sought to make it impossible for her to properly investigate allegations of misconduct.
Ms Filkin says the job of her successor will be even more difficult, as the post has been "downgraded" to fewer hours and they will have to reapply for their jobs every few years.
Will Ms Filkin's criticisms further undermine public confidence in MPs? How can Parliament be policed?
Perhaps it's an indication of the depths to which public opinion of politicians has fallen, but for my money the best idea I've heard on political sleaze was in Terry Pratchett's "Last Continent" where anyone elected to public office was instantly imprisoned for it. All we'd have to do is change the security arrangements at the House of Commons!
Ms Filkin should be reinstated with even more powers, and clean up the corrupt den that is the Commons. Many of us have had enough of the low standards our politicians set themselves. Let's expose their appalling behaviour, and once exposed they should be kicked out. At present they are widely distrusted and have little respect from Joe Public - it's hardly surprising!!
All the sleaze really does make one remember why the word COMMON is present in House of Commons doesn't it!
Ben Bradshaw MP, England
Ms Filkin never stood a chance once she attended to her job correctly. Our MPs didn't want policing, just a nodding dog. After all, it really wouldn't do to have all this sleaze out in the open now would it?
Our elected representatives need to be seen to be clean. A strong watchdog has to be in the public and government's interest. Any Prime Minister needs to know that those he has appointed, or may appoint, to high office are not going to let him down by having a few skeletons in the cupboard. He need only worry about their competence.
MPs don't want to be policed - too many are corrupt and don't want exposure. That is why so many of us are completely disinterested in politics. They have shot themselves in the foot again.
Frank Ward, UK
Appointing the Standards Commissioner should be done by a free vote in the House of Commons, not by a committee or by the Government. Their term should be automatically renewed by a majority vote in the Commons. That way backbenchers, who usually have less potential conflicts, are more likely to choose and support them.
Investigations should be strictly private until finished or unless a summons is required due to non-disclosure of information.
British politicians are now at their lowest level after years of erosion of standards. Obviously the appointment of Ms Filkin was pure window dressing - they did not really expect her to probe their many misdeeds. Ms Filkin should go to a tribunal and charge them with constructive dismissal. Is it not significant that the politicians are more concerned with finding out how the resignation letter reached the press?
I am very concerned at the decision to advertise the post and also to lessen the hours; it does not make the House of Commons look very good.
Mike, Czech Rep.
Back in 1997 Tony Blair promised the country that people who practiced wrong-doing would not be tolerated. But now Labour is showing itself to be filled with sleaze, in just the same way the Tory Party was prior to their 1997 meltdown. The foul stench coming out of Westminster demonstrates one simple thing - they have something to hide.
Ms Filkin's parting comments after her resignation sound more like sour grapes. She had been doing a very good job, but it seems that she was unable to cope with the pressure of the position, so has left spitting and resentful.
David Hazel, UK
Self-regulation - even through an appointed body - will never work. We should demand a written constitution with the same structure as in the US; with oversight and a framework in which laws are made and implemented. Then there might be some incentive for openness and honesty. It is getting worse year by year; mainly because of the complete absence of any deterrents.
Edwin Thornber, Britain
I cannot believe that Parliament can authorise the contract of their own watchdog. It should be an independent person like the Queen who is able to deal with this type of contract. I work for a large national company that has a watchdog, does this mean that if we don't like their recommendations, we can sack them? No I didn't think so.
You need a separate independent body to police Parliament, a body that answers to no politician, especially not a Labour MP. But how can such a body come into existence when even the Speaker is no longer independent?
Shaun, Teignmouth UK
The upsetting thing is that Ms Filkin has left her post and Keith Vaz has not had the common decency to vacate his.
I thought it was the government who set this position up make sure there was no sleaze? I suppose with the number of senior Labour politicians scoring major own goals, it was all becoming a bit embarrassing. Maybe the final straw arose because she was getting too close for comfort (to something really big?) Clearly this role is needed and it shouldn't be manipulated to prevent a consistent approach. The position should run for the duration of the Parliament. We've already had Mr Brown fail to adhere to Parliamentary ethics and refuse to give information to a select committee, now an enforced cover up. When will the sleaze end?
Well it's taken them a while but now we see that New Labour are no better than the old Conservatives. It seems the old adage "It doesn't matter who you vote for, the government always get in" is very, very true.
I hope the Cabinet Secretary will now publish guidance for civil servants on how to resist pressure from Ministers to engage in such activity, and that the Prime Minister will make a clear statement that any Minister who puts improper pressure on a Parliamentary enquiry will be expected to resign.
Steve Fuller, England
The only way for this to work is to put the gamekeeper out of the reach of the poachers, ie to put someone in place that is beyond the influence of the politicians, and in the current system that means a senior judge. Any other individual will be vulnerable to political interference.
Strange isn't it? Tony Blair promises to clean up sleaze in politics, but when the sleaze concerns his own ministers the watchdog is killed. What a hypocrite. No wonder so many people don't vote.
I find the situation appalling. On one hand you have our elected government introducing measures to place the police, NHS and education under closer scrutiny and on the other hand the elected government wishes not to be scrutinised themselves. Do they take the entire country for fools?
I suspect that her remarks will further tarnish the reputation of MPs. Given the difficulty that some MPs have understanding such simple concepts as reimbursing allowances to which they are not entitled, there is a clear need for independent monitoring of their interests. However, it is important that the process is fair and that MPs are not unfairly pilloried in public only to be cleared at a later date.
Parliament doesn't want to be policed properly, only appear to be policed. When it is a case of snouts at trough time, the last thing you want is some jumped up nobody telling you what you are doing is wrong.
This government was elected on an anti-sleaze ticket. It is pretty rich that, as soon as a few of their cronies are found wanting and are criticised by the body they set up to ensure the probity of MPs, they immediately cry foul and try to undermine the organisation they set up to investigate and report on any alleged unethical activities.
As a local councillor I am required to operate under a far more stringent code of conduct and declaration of interests than any MP.
05 Dec 01 | UK Politics
Sleaze role 'under threat'
04 Dec 01 | UK Politics
Watchdog accuses MPs and speaker
04 Dec 01 | UK Politics
Key extracts from the Filkin letter
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