YOU may think that Members of Parliament (and some of their Lordships) are a bunch of ******* and after the expenses scandal, who could blame you? The fallout from the dark days of early 2009 is still er.. falling out.

One former MP has been jailed for fraud and another current member is staring down the barrel of a prison sentence after admitting charges in court a couple of weeks ago.

This week, Lord Taylor, a former chancellor of Bournemouth University has been appearing before a jury at Southwark Court accused of fiddling his travelling and overnight expenses to the tune of some £11,000. He pleads guilty to six charges of false accounting. He does not deny he made the claims, but insists he did not do so dishonestly.

His lawyer told the court that this was common practice for peers and widely regarded as a perfectly acceptable way of boosting income. This is the argument used by MPs, that they were playing the system, not abusing it, to make up for their relatively modest salary of £65,738.

The government has said it wants to scrap a one per cent pay rise for honourable members to show that everyone is exercising restraint in these difficult times.

But until we accept that MPs as the country’s lawmakers should be paid a decent wage and top calibre people are attracted to the job, we will indeed have a bunch of ******* representing us.