MPs expenses - call for Integrity

The media frenzy of recent days surrounding revelations of MP's exaggerated expense claims shows no signs of abating. Day after day we have been receiving new information of how some of those elected to offer leadership appear to have gone way over the top in claiming their expenses. The nation is up in arms about it, and there is no shortage of people willing to decry MPs and say how wicked they all are.

Some MPs, of course, have tried to maintain a low profile, in the hope that the fuss might be over before they are called to account. Some, however, have agreed to be interviewed. Almost without exception, MPs seem to cite two main reasons why this thing has happened:

1. The system is to blame. They all seem to agree that the system is in need of radical overhaul. One wonders, however, how many of them would have called for an overhaul of the system if all this had not become public knowledge? Many seemed happy enough to go along with it until recently.

2. I made a mistake. "An accounting error" was how one MP described it! Of course we all make mistakes, but some of the so-called mistakes appear to be rather serious ones. If I make a mistake by driving though a red traffic light I would still have to face the consequences!

It seems to me that what we really need in our leaders is that they be people of integrity. The dictionary definition of integrity is "adherence to moral and ethical principles; soundness of moral character; honesty." We need to be able to trust what they say. As Jesus himself said, 'let your yes be yes and your no, no.' We have local and European elections coming shortly. It is our chance to try to identify the people of integrity and support them.

The other element of all this is which seems to have been overlooked is the fact that there is an element of hypocrisy in some of the criticism which has been flying around. Fiddling expenses is not a phenomenon restricted to MPs! I vividly remember that as a young person starting out in the world of work I was under very strong pressure from work colleagues to exaggerate claims for overtime. They were worried that if I claimed the correct amount of overtime, questions would be asked about their much greater figures! It was no easy task as a follower of Jesus to stick to my principles and maintain my integrity. So yes, it is right that we hold our MPs to account and point out where they may have overstepped the mark. But at the same time we all need to examine our own conduct. Integrity is a quality to be looked for in our MPs, but it is also a quality which we all should seek to nurture.