The Speaker is not the first nor will he be the last victim of the tsunami of receipts currently washing over the Houses of Parliament. This exposure of the true financial wheelings and dealings of our MPs has resulted in public anger and many calls for a change to the system. A persistent, and consistent, call from all shades of the political spectrum has been one for transparency and that is something all MPs should now be subject to. But as we have seen, a system devised by MPs, for MPs, will no doubt suffer from further MP abuse as they seek to line their own pockets. We need an alternative.

It is time that we put ourselves back in charge. There is an election on the horizon and we, the people, have an opportunity to start afresh: we could simply elect only those who have never sat before. All the parties have in place the necessary machinery that can help the virginal politicians take their first faltering steps toward governing us properly without recourse to having their hands in the proverbial till, or snouts in the trough!

There is an opportunity to hold a bloodless coup and observe whether the system itself is corrupt or if the trade merely attracts those who are of a weaker moral outlook. The current suspicions held by the majority probably straddle both camps, which is why the forthcoming European and General Elections will both suffer from even lower turnouts than usual. But rather than be helpless observers to reformers reforming their own system we can impose the ultimate punishment upon these corrupt transgressors: removal from their seats, and distance placed between them and their access to our wallets.

NB: In an ideal world there would be very few politicians required, perhaps this could be the first step to removing the majority by decapitating their power substantially.