Was the expenses scandal a final blow for Britain's discredited political class? Not really, says Ipsos MORI's Ben Page. His polls show a surprisingly consistent (if low) respect for politicians, when compared to other professions, over the last decade. If indeed there ever was a time when politicians were held in high regard, the fall is more likely to have happened many decades ago when Britain first began to doubt that its leaders put their country first, and began to believe politicians to be self-interested. And while a poll taken after the expenses furore shows that today a remarkable 68 per cent of Britons agree that "most MPs make a lot of money by using public office improperly," 64 per cent thought the same in 1994 too. Our views of politicians are already so low, it seems, that even a major parliamentary corruption scandal can't dent them further.
