The row over parliamentary expenses in the the U.K. shows no signs of abating (check any British newspaper) — and it’s destroying political careers by the day. This article in the Times by Camilla Cavendish reminds us what may be bubbling beneath:

Power corrupts, we like to say – wringing our hands over MPs’ expenses. It certainly does. Look at Gordon Brown, using the new row over capital gains tax to destabilise his critic Hazel Blears, while saying that the same mud should not stick to James Purnell and Geoff Hoon. It’s a nasty game, politics. But it is the absence of power, it seems to me, that is an important part of public outrage. Westminster has given up so much power – to Europe, to quangos, to judges – that people wonder what they are paying for. Half the time, a big issue comes up and politicians say it’s not their responsibility…
The readiness of politicians to relinquish power amazes me. Take the European constitution, now rebranded as the Lisbon treaty. I read all the drafts of that document, spoke to lawyers and became convinced that its calculated opacity was a charter for the creeping takeover of national policy by bureaucrats and judges. There were brilliant MPs who could debate every inch of the detail – David Miliband, Gisela Stuart, David Heathcoat-Amory, Chris Huhne. But I met others who hadn’t even read the document and looked incredulous that I had… Many decent MPs are dismayed at being lumped together with the crooks. But one of the reasons public anger goes a lot deeper than Sir Peter Viggers’s duck pond is because we feel we can no longer change our laws by voting out politicians. The EU machine marches on, constraining everything from the future of the Post Office to what vitamins we can take. The promised referendum on the Lisbon treaty has been ditched. The quango nanny state has acquired a momentum of its own. Politicians have given away powers that they held in trust for the people. They cannot be altogether surprised if people now lump them all together in impotent fury.

And then right on cue, there’s this delightful news:

Eighteen “phantom” MEPs [Members of the European Parliament] will be elected on full pay and perks next month despite not being able to start work for up to two years due to Ireland’s rejection of the Lisbon Treaty. The extra candidates will be chosen in the European Union elections on June 4 despite the agreement, which increases the number of MEPs from 736 to 754, remaining unsigned. Amid confusion over when and how they will take up their seats, the European Parliament has decided to give the MEPs only “observer” status from next year. The deal will mean they can draw full salaries and allowances at an annual cost of over £6 million without any legislative duties to carry out. The 18 MEPs, from 12 EU countries, including Britain’s West Midlands region, will be paid more than £76,000 a year, with staff and office allowances worth £210,000. They will also be entitled to tax-free allowances of £255 for every day of their limbo existence in Brussels and can claim back business class travel. Nigel Farage, leader of the UK Independence Party, said: “Welcome to virtual politics, this has to be the political expenses scandal to end all expenses scandals. “The perfect politician for today’s elite, one that takes wages and does no work at all.”

As a reminder, the Irish rejected the Lisbon Treaty, have been bullied into a do-over, but have not yet voted. No matter! The EU machine rolls on regardless.

EU officials, meanwhile, continue to be dismayed (sort of) by the likelihood of a low turnout in the upcoming elections for the Union’s parliament, but remain unable to explain why voters should participate in a Potemkin election for a Potemkin parliament.