When innocence is no excuse

What an atmosphere in which to stand for election for the first time. The relentless drip-feeding by The Daily Telegraph of information about Westminster MPs’ expenses claims is undermining the public’s faith in mainstream politicians.

What is the end-point The Telegraph is trying to reach though? Is the aim to drive voters to UKIP … or even the BNP? The BNP’s leader has used the scandal to proclaim that his party is like a “liberating army” moving through the British political landscape.

Make no mistake, this is fundamentally an anti-politics agenda.

Do not get me wrong. I am angry and sickened by the actions of MPs who have brought the whole business of politics into disrepute. And like other Labour party members, I expected much more of Labour’s representatives at Westminster than I did of the other parties.

But there is a witch-hunt element to this spectacle now. Even those honest MPs who acted well within the rules are damned by association simply for being politicians. It seems that innocence is no longer an excuse.

The campaign for the European elections goes on though. And to the handful on the streets or doorsteps who have suggested the contrary, I am not ashamed to be standing as a candidate. I am proud to have been given the opportunity to put the Labour record and case to voters.

The campaign this weekend took us to Fife, Hamilton and Dumbarton. There remains a very real choice to be made on June 4th.