Shameless

Some politicians just can't help themselves. Take James Purnell, for example. He can help himself to taxpayer's money, obviously, but when it comes to simply not saying something calculated to pointlessly enrage even the most mild-mannered voter, he just can't keep his trap shut:

Britain's leaders should "bite the bullet" and endorse state funding of political parties as part of an overhaul to remove "big money" from the system, the work and pensions secretary, James Purnell, declares today.

In the middle of a recession, when people are losing their jobs and homes, when we are up to our eyes in debt, when daily revelations about MP's expenses are making people believe that all of our elected representatives are on the fiddle, he wants taxpayers to stump up to pay for political parties' expenses. Incredible.

Two observations:

1. How about parties just spending less? As a member of the governing party (for the moment), wouldn't Purnell be better occupied lobbying the movers and shakers to lower the allowed level of political donations to all parties? If a party really has popular support then it will attract enough members to fund itself through membership dues and donations. Get rid of the big donors by all means - the rich and powerful buying influence is just another, more subtle, form of corruption - but don't expect the taxpayer to hand over the money you can't convince ordinary people to hand over voluntarily.

2. These are austere times. Luckily, thanks to the Internet, it has never been easier or cheaper to get your message out. Blogs, YouTube, texts, podcasts, whatever. Generally, when politicians attempt to get their message across by text, YouTube or some similar medium , the results are gimmicky, shallow and dire. But, hey, that's not our problem. The tools are there for you to use, the cost of getting your message across is low, especially for any party popular enough to have a healthy membership and coherent enough to have a clear message to get across. So just get on with it and stop hassling taxpayers for more money.

Maybe it's time for Mr Purnell to bite the bullet and accept that funding party machines isn't a spending priority for anybody outside those party machines. At least with his jaws clamped around a piece of lead, we wouldn't have to listen to his more annoyingly stupid pronouncements.