There is no question that the last few weeks have been the worst for British politics in my life time. And with very just cause. The public are revolted, disgusted and appalled. This is not limited to those outside the political sphere, activists who knock on doors, stuff envelopes, and deliver leaflets in support of their party feel particularly betrayed. 

But there has been a typically British revolution simmering away for many years - not violent but one that has turned its back on politicians and the political class. The expense claims have been the lightening rod for this sense of disillusion, disempowerment and disengagement from our political process. Politics in this country have not been right for a long time. 

Power has resided in the wrong places – centralised in Whitehall with faceless politicians and even more invisible bureaucrats deciding our futures. We are harassed by illogical inflexible procedures and pushed around by officialdom. 

Why is it that we are educating people more while imprisoning them with regulations that inhibit their innovation and self-reliance.   We are making people “compliant” rather than allowing diversity of opinion and approach to life and work. We have more regulation “police” monitoring our businesses and telling our local public servants how to do their jobs, giving them no opportunity to exercise their own sound judgement. As a people we are becoming fearful of risk, inhibited from being different, creating a grey society that is judged through box ticking as either compliant and obedient or risky and dangerously “adventurous”.