Apologies dear readers but prepare for a big old rant about one of my soapbox favourites, MPs, writes blogger Charlie Cashdan.

I know I’m generalising and some MPs are great, but I can’t help getting all steamed up about how we seem to miss the point (particularly the MPs themselves it seems) about what an MP is and what he/she is meant to do.

An MP is meant to be someone who works tirelessly to serve their communities, a prominent local figure who works hard to make things better in their local area by representing and being representative of the people who reside there.

Because MPs are (supposed to be) representative of their constituents, they are able to vote on issues in the House of Commons on their behalf as it would not be practical for all how ever many million of us to turn up there every week and cast our own vote in person.

This is why the MP should represent the typical member of their constituency and this is the point that really winds me up because this just doesn’t seem to happen anymore in most areas.  

Let me try and explain it better:

If you were doing a survey about what men find sexy in a woman for example, you couldn’t possibly ask every single man in the UK.  It’s also pointless to ask, say, just men who read Nuts magazine (Big breasts) or men who read the broadsheets (big brain, massive salary) or virginal teenagers (anyone with pulse).  So, you find yourselves a sample group of men comprising of a cross section of types and call this group representative of the male population as a whole.  

It’s supposed to be the same with MPs; they should be Mr Average, representing the views and experiences typical of the average person in their constituency so that they can vote on their behalf and reflect their views.  

Two problems, firstly I don’t even know who my MP is, never seen him as far as I know and can’t name one single thing he/she has done for my area.  The people who work tirelessly hard and make a big difference in my community are the fab local vicar, and various other members of the church who work as volunteers doing loads of community projects and all those great people who truly care and give their time often as volunteers and out of a genuine sense of love for their community and wanting to make a difference.  These are the people who should be MPs.

Second problem; explain to me how Tory MP Derek Conway became MP for Old Bexley and Sidcup when he had been working as an £80,000 a year chief executive of the Cats Protection League?  How does someone earning £80,000 a year typify the average member of his constituency?  And shouldn’t the Cats Protection League use its money for helping sick and vulnerable cats not for making fat ones fatter?

Therefore it’s no surprise that this already horribly overpaid individual has gone on to use his position as an MP to apparently serve his own interests and pay his wife to be his secretary, his son Freddie £12,000 to work part time (He earns the same as my recruitment consultant at work for her demanding full time job) and his older son £45,000 to be a parliamentary assistant.

How can an MP vote on the NHS when they probably have private health care, how can they vote on education when their kids probably don’t go to the local comp and they went to private school, how can they vote on NHS dentistry when they have a private dentist, how can they make decisions on minimum wage when they’ve never earned it, how can they comment on race and integration when they live in white upper middle class areas, how can they represent me when their lives are so far removed from my own and can we really be surprised when they turn out to be self serving?

Mr Conway’s wife said in a weekend paper that he can’t even turn a computer on and he gets £60,000 basic of public money a year! 

Sorry, I did say to expect a rant!  And I know what you are thinking, if I’m such an expert, why don’t I have a go myself?  

Well, I’d love too, always had that ambition (along with famous actress, novelist, size 8 etc) but if it means I have to affiliate myself with one of our political parties then no way because I don’t trust any of them!  

When politics turns away from the parties and back towards the people I may well give it a go – either that or work for the Cats Protection League, I hear the pay is quite good!

Agree with Charlie? Post your comments below.