Quality | 2009.08.22
Mock, shock, horror - why we taped Alan Duncan | Heydon Prowse
Our secret tape of Alan Duncan was meant to expose MPs\' failure to change
Shock, horror! Politician displays blasé attitude towards the expenses scandal! Come on – did anyone genuinely imagine Alan Duncan huddled over a half pint of London Pride in the Strangers\' Bar would be chatting about how bad he felt for living the high life on the back of the taxpayer?
Regular readers of our website had been watching our spoof Houses of Parliament nature documentary for two weeks before the London Evening Standard picked up on it, without the flabbergasted, ever-so-shocked reaction that it provoked in the mainstream press. Because the truth is that it doesn\'t take a seasoned political analyst to know that there are two sorts of conversations – one that takes place in public and the other behind the closed doors of power. Just as it doesn\'t take a seasoned political analyst to know that the same Tory leaders who are hastily trying to distance themselves from Duncan\'s remarks had their fingers in the expenses till, too. And it is because of the nonsense peddled by their likes, by the political classes, that millions of young people cannot be bothered to vote, or worse still, vote BNP.
And that is what we try to address at Don\'t Panic. We stuck a blue plaque on Jacqui Smith\'s sister\'s house, which she was claiming as her main residence (thanks, Google Street View). We spent the afternoon undercover with the BNP, filming them trying to canvas black people and then admitting only whites can join the party. When our government began dishing out billions of our hard-earned money to the banks, we stood outside the RBS offices collecting money for a little known organisation called GBFMYC (Give us Back our Fucking Money – and you can guess the rest).
We have tried to cut through some of the insincere dialogue to urge on younger people and have an influence on the debate ourselves. We want to engage young people with political and environmental issues by being confrontational, humorous and informative. With some planning, a bit of cunning promotion and plenty of chutzpah we believe we can encourage debate and maybe enact some change – and get more people interested in what is going on in this country and beyond.
We hope our undercover film showed that not much has changed in the Palace of Westminster. Proposals to impose criminal sanctions on anyone who takes money from outside interests to lobby in parliament have been dropped; and in the autumn two peers that were recorded (also in Westminster) agreeing to accept cash in return for influencing laws will return to the Lords after a mere six months\' suspension. Also ditched from the parliamentary standards bill were proposals to make it an offence to fail to declare outside interests. So MPs can pocket nice fat wages from – say – energy giants, while claiming to represent us.
It is simply not true that abolishing second incomes and taxpayer funded expense accounts will bring about a less high quality species of MP. Being given the chance to serve your community and change it for the better would be a hugely attractive privilege for many intelligent, highly capable people, irrespective of the price tag attached. And if that brings about a less ambitious, less self-interested species of MP, so be it. It would be a welcome change.
Heydon Prowse is editor of Dontpaniconline.com Read in full blogs and join the debate at guardian.co.uk/comment is free
For more information, please visit
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/aug/14/alan-duncan-mps-expenses
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