NEIL HAGUE : Culture: the cult of indifference.

To add to its scalps on prepayment meters, it was interesting to see The Times on Wednesday (for Thursday) take on Scott Benton, the MP for Blackpool South, and expose him for the duplicitous shit that he really is.

But, if it wasn’t enough seeing an MP willing to sell himself to the highest bidder, the new revelations from today’s Times are in a sense more damning, in that they have Benton boasting about how easy it is to circumvent disclosure rules, and thus evade public scrutiny.

That MPs these days seem to be in it from themselves comes as no surprise, and it was only recently that Matt Hancock and Kwasi Modo were caught up in a sting operation, where they also appeared willing to prostitute themselves.

Also belatedly coming into focus is the role of the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) in enabling lobbyists to gain access to MPs and grease a few palms in a legitimate if rather dubious manner.

Concern was voiced recently by Chris Bryant, chairman of the Commons standards committee, that they can be used as back doors into parliament. Foreign trips, domestic hospitality and the bankrolling of APPG secretariats can be used by foreign governments or corporate interests to gain advantage.

https://davidicke.com/2023/04/07/culture-the-cult-of-indifference/

https://turbulenttimes.co.uk/news/front-page/culture-the-cult-of-indifference/