When I started this blog, I wrote that I wanted to be fair and open minded, so it is absolutely right to defend a local Tory MP when he is being criticised for no reason other than him being a politician. South Norfolk Tory MP is having to defend himself in the press after it was revealed that he has been loaned a Lotus Europa sports car by Lotus for an extended month long test drive. Snouts in the trough ? Well no, I really don't think so.
Lotus are the biggest employer in Mr Bacon's constituency and as local MP he has regular dealings with them. If a local MP from Hereford was given some cider by a local company, no fuss. If the MP gfor Grimsby was given some fish after going on a visit to fishermen, again, no problem, so I genuinely cannot see what the problem is with Mr Bacon being loaned a care for 4 weeks. He has said it will be declared int he register of members interests, so he has done nothing wrong.I note that the story in the EDP links the loan of the car to his expenses, reported yesterday, and somewhat unfairly makes the point that his expenses are higher than the average. This could be because South Norfolk is a larger constituency (like North Norfolk) and therefore has more casework to be dealt with, but the paper does not develop this point further.
So, in summary, lets not attack MP's simply for the sake of it. I am no fan of Mr Bacon's politics, but lets let him get on with representing his constituents and lets judge him fairly on his performance, this whole issue of being loaned a car is not a something he should ahve to defend himself on.
No comments:
Post a Comment