ONLY a suspicious mind would say that the DUP policy on government savings was because they wanted to deflect from the MPs expenses story that was heading down the tracks towards the Members of Parliament for East Belfast and Strangford.
Only a suspicious mind would have queried the statistics that Peter Robinson trotted out to explain the £400 per month on food claimed by his wife and fellow MP and MLA, Iris.
Only a suspicious mind would have queried Mr Robinson’s claim that this amounted to about £73 per month and at London prices this was reasonable.
Well, then we can only conclude that there are a lot of suspicious minds out there.
The ire of an annoyed and angered populace was sounded on the airwaves. Online the eating expenses were analysed and dissected. Particular focus of political rivals and fuming voters was how the £73+ per week related to the time spent at Westminster. That is the House of Commons that sits for about half a year. That is the Westminster that Mr and Mrs Robinson don’t attend on Monday and Tuesdays as these are when the Assembly meets in plenary session.
Naturally all of this was to be expected
What was less expected was how mild the media interrogation was of our Peter Robinson on Friday morning. If the average radio caller and bloggers can work out that the £73+ a week does not relate to actual Parliamentary attendance by the First Minister then why were these questions not posed of half of our First Minister?
On a more hopeful note, Mr Robinson said that there will be reform of the much talked about ‘rules’ for expenses, and that his party may go further than what is proposed.
He cited one potential avenue - publishing MPs expenses online.
Which, the more seasoned commentators have pointed out, should have done years ago, rather than having to be forced into reform through legal challenges and newspaper revelations.
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