Tory leader David Cameron said he wanted his frontbench team to name all relatives working for them by 1 April.

I can see it now: "Nope, not a one."

APRIL FOOLS ;)

So the Conservatives notice a problem and take steps to remedy it, every party follows suit, Brown calls for transparency but then discloses no information himself, then criticises the Conservaties. What a prick.

Slaxl: So the Conservatives notice a problem and take steps to remedy it, every party follows suit, Brown calls for transparency but then discloses no information himself, then criticises the Conservaties. What a prick.

Welcome to politics.

George W. Bush, Hillary Clinton, Michael Powell, Elizabeth Dole, Ted Kennedy and Dan Lipinski. And that's only off the top of my head.

Americans aren't any better at nepotism than the Brits. We could be worse at it.

I cannot believe they don't have anti-nepotism laws/rules.

dragonchild: George W. Bush, Hillary Clinton, Michael Powell, Elizabeth Dole, Ted Kennedy and Dan Lipinski. And that's only off the top of my head.

Americans aren't any better at nepotism than the Brits. We could be worse at it.

But none of them were given jobs by their relative.

Except that the problem the Conservatives actually had was that one of their MPs was "employing" his son, who in fact did no work (not so long after a similar scandal helped them ditch a leader who was electoral suicide). To the best of my knowledge there are no accusations of anything similar about Labour or Lib Dem politicians (yet).

And the Conservatives "noticed" the problem after it had been on the front pages of all the newspapers.

Forget the US or UK, if you really want to see nepotism then go to China.

/ Yeah, I've been there

Hang On Voltaire: dragonchild: George W. Bush, Hillary Clinton, Michael Powell, Elizabeth Dole, Ted Kennedy and Dan Lipinski. And that's only off the top of my head.

Americans aren't any better at nepotism than the Brits. We could be worse at it.

But none of them were given jobs by their relative.

Well because of a relative, probably. Let's not forget the guy that Bush put in charge of NASA, Former FEMA head Brownie, et al. Americans are just as bad at nepotism and patronage, we just cover it up better...

inglixthemad: Americans are just as bad at nepotism and patronage, we just cover it up better...

No we don't.

In the UK many MPs have been encouraged to employ their spouse to help with their tasks, as it is an occupation with lots of travel and long hours, and is notorious for breaking up marriages. The point in the original case is spending taxpayers money and then the 'employee' doing no work at all. MPs employing family members is therefore not the issue, it is whether they are just treating it as an bonus handout for being an MP; if their family members are actually doing something for the money then it should be no problem.

Hang On Voltaire: I cannot believe they don't have anti-nepotism laws/rules.

what's wrong with employing family members? that isn't the issue - it's the fact that he essentially just gave his son the money out of his expenses, which is against the rules - politics is all about knowing the right people and always has been, ain't right, ain't fair but it's politics, not like they run the country or anything

Hang On Voltaire: dragonchild: George W. Bush, Hillary Clinton, Michael Powell, Elizabeth Dole, Ted Kennedy and Dan Lipinski. And that's only off the top of my head.

Americans aren't any better at nepotism than the Brits. We could be worse at it.

But none of them were given jobs by their relative.

No that would be Lisa Murkowski. Of course, that and many other reasons would be why her father Frank lost in the primary for his bid for reelection as Governor of Alaska.

I honestly don't see a problem with MPs who employ their wives. The nature of the job they are doing requires that their wives will be heavily involved, so why shouldn't they be paid?

Most of these politicians are very smart people with a grasp of nationwide policy that 99% of people can't hope to understand, let alone steer the direction of.

What's killing our politicians at the moment is the constant focus on their personal life, I couldn't care if they dick around with other woman or take money on the side, as long as they do their job, and do it well.

Obviously in this case it's bad to give someone cash who isn't even working for you.