So we learn today that, yet again, the Tories find themselves mired in corruption involving elected representatives paying expenses to their own family.

The Independent reports:

Giles Chichester resigned as leader of the Conservative Euro MPs today after breaking European Parliament rules on political expenses.

He threw in the towel after facing an ultimatum from David Cameron to justify channelling more than £400,000 in staff allowances to a family business of which he is a paid director.

Now, I’m certainly not going to suggest that corruption is limited to the Tories, but I certainly tend to sniff the hypocrisy a bit more from them, not least because they’re all rich toffs who don’t need to swindle the taxpayer, but just can’t help it. (Oh, okay, so I guess there are some misguided Tories who’ve worked their way up, and weren’t just handed a wodge of cash by daddy when they were still in their Prada nappies, but they’re surely the exception not the rule.) After all, aren’t Tories supposed to be anti-big-government, not believing in the state, and surely should be eager to cut down costs wherever possible? If taxes are a waste of money, it’s incumbant on MPs / MEPs to keep the waste down, no?

But then, to look at it another way, since a majority of Tories probably still believe that we should leave the EU, and it’s all wasted anyway, they probably reckon every penny they can waste will hasten that evil empire’s downfall. And their trickle-down economic theory would imply that the money will end up in the hands of good honest Brits rather that evil expansion-country-denizens.

Oh a totally different note, and no doubt I’ll moan about it again, this is yet another infuriating example of the ‘resignation principle’ – namely, that leadership these days apparently consists in telling people to resign when they do something wrong. I find this totally aggravating. If you find that a minister or MP or MEP or councillor or whatever has done something wrong, you SACK them. You don’t wait for them to resign, you don’t ask them to resign, you make a public example of them by telling them they’re FIRED. I won’t hold my breath…