No more 'corrosive' corruption.

Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, was speaking in the Philippines yesterday about the government of Afghanistan, but her words have relevance everywhere:

Corruption is corrosive in any society. When leaders enrich themselves at the expense of their people, when they put their own fortunes ahead of the fortune of their people, it has a very unfortunate impact: People don’t trust the government, they don’t rely on the government, they can’t imagine a better life for themselves, because they don’t think their leaders are working to obtain that for them.

Corruption is not just a problem of the developing world, as recent revelations from the British Parliament have demonstrated. Greed seems to be part of human nature.

At least in Britain we have a relatively free police, judiciary and an alert press, together with an informed public unwilling to tolerate such behaviour.

This means there is more chance of detecting corruption, as recent events also demonstrate. Greedy politicians have been named and shamed, and will pay the price in the next elections or by answering criminal charges.

This sends a clear message to all of our MPs, including the MEPs, that dishonest claims are corrupt, and will be detected and punished.

The BNP (and UKIP) have been involved in some alleged corruption scandals already, as this link summarises in some detail.

All politicians should know that their expenses will be scrutinised by professionals for any hint of wrongdoing.

And there is every reason to trust that justice will prevail - in the end.

From Norwich Evening News 24:

A former MEP who represented Norfolk in Brussels and fiddled £39,000 expenses has been jailed for two years.

Former MEP Tom Wise, 61, who represented UKIP before turning independent, spent 13 months channelling the money into a bank account he secretly controlled.

A former MEP who represented Norfolk in Brussels and fiddled £39,000 expenses has been jailed for two years.

Tom Wise, 61, of Bedfordshire, who represented UKIP before turning independent, spent 13 months channelling the money into a bank account he secretly controlled.

He pretended the £3,000 “secretarial assistance allowance” he received every month was for his researcher.

But London's Southwark Crown Court heard he spent most of it funding a love of fine wine, clearing credit card debts, buying a car and funding party political activities.

Wise was originally elected as East of England MEP for UKIP in June 2004.