Watchdog or Lapdog?
Why does someone who is performing a 'public service' need to be paid up to £100,000 a year?
A labourer is is worthy of his hire, as Karl Marx once said. But is it right to reward someone with such a whopping big salary - when they have enjoyed a good living from the public purse for years - and presumably now benefit from a handsome public pension to boot?
Step forward, Professor Sir Ian Kennedy who has just been appointed as head of the independent watchdog charged with reforming MPs’ expenses and restoring public trust in Parliament.
Now Sir Ian Kennedy is a distinguished person, no doubt about that. An acknowledged expert on the law and ethics of medicine, Sir Ian previously chaired the Healthcare Commission from 2003 to 2009 and an inquiry into children's heart surgery at Bristol Royal Infirmary, where 29 children died between 1994 and 1995.
But why can't he do the job of cleaning up Parliament - and just get reimbursed for his expenses - why does he need to be paid four times more than the average UK salary - for what amounts to a part-time job?
And no sooner was Sir Ian Kennedy appointed - than his political connections came out into the open. He's a big chum of Alistair Campbell apparently (Tony Blair's old press adviser) - so much so that he was the former spin-doctor's 'phone a friend' - when Campbell appeared on 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?".
On his new salary it will only take Sir Ian another ten years to fulfill that ambition - not counting his publicly funded pension, of course. More seriously, the press is now full of stories that Sir Ian Kennedy plans to tear up the proposed reforms to the discredited system of allowances put forward earlier this week by another government appointed special adviser - Sir Christopher Kelly.
Despite the fact that Sir Christopher Kelly's reforms have been endorsed by all the main party leaders - when they were announced under the full glare of press and media attention.
So, will Sir Ian Kennedy turn out to be a public watchdog - or establishment lapdog? Time will tell - but it certainly doesn't help his cause to be so close to the 'beautiful people' - when there must have been many other well qualified people to choose from.
If Sir Ian Kennedy starts to water down the reform package announced only last week - the whole issue will reignite - and rightly so.
But back to where this started - why do the great and good need their mouths stuffed with gold - before they will perform a much needed public service.
Whatever happened to the old fashioned notion of 'putting something back'?
Especially when you've done so well out of the system - and the public purse - in the first place?
A labourer is is worthy of his hire, as Karl Marx once said. But is it right to reward someone with such a whopping big salary - when they have enjoyed a good living from the public purse for years - and presumably now benefit from a handsome public pension to boot?
Step forward, Professor Sir Ian Kennedy who has just been appointed as head of the independent watchdog charged with reforming MPs’ expenses and restoring public trust in Parliament.
Now Sir Ian Kennedy is a distinguished person, no doubt about that. An acknowledged expert on the law and ethics of medicine, Sir Ian previously chaired the Healthcare Commission from 2003 to 2009 and an inquiry into children's heart surgery at Bristol Royal Infirmary, where 29 children died between 1994 and 1995.
But why can't he do the job of cleaning up Parliament - and just get reimbursed for his expenses - why does he need to be paid four times more than the average UK salary - for what amounts to a part-time job?
And no sooner was Sir Ian Kennedy appointed - than his political connections came out into the open. He's a big chum of Alistair Campbell apparently (Tony Blair's old press adviser) - so much so that he was the former spin-doctor's 'phone a friend' - when Campbell appeared on 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?".
On his new salary it will only take Sir Ian another ten years to fulfill that ambition - not counting his publicly funded pension, of course. More seriously, the press is now full of stories that Sir Ian Kennedy plans to tear up the proposed reforms to the discredited system of allowances put forward earlier this week by another government appointed special adviser - Sir Christopher Kelly.
Despite the fact that Sir Christopher Kelly's reforms have been endorsed by all the main party leaders - when they were announced under the full glare of press and media attention.
So, will Sir Ian Kennedy turn out to be a public watchdog - or establishment lapdog? Time will tell - but it certainly doesn't help his cause to be so close to the 'beautiful people' - when there must have been many other well qualified people to choose from.
If Sir Ian Kennedy starts to water down the reform package announced only last week - the whole issue will reignite - and rightly so.
But back to where this started - why do the great and good need their mouths stuffed with gold - before they will perform a much needed public service.
Whatever happened to the old fashioned notion of 'putting something back'?
Especially when you've done so well out of the system - and the public purse - in the first place?
