LETTER: George Osborne - An insult to our own MP

The recent actions of George Osborne are a scandal. '¨He quite recently leaves cabinet office and now engages, while continuing as an MP, in financial employment worth huge sums of money. He's also to be editor in chief of a newspaper. '¨Mr Osborne informs us this will only take up mornings, so he will be able to attend Parliament in the afternoons. How insulting this is to hardworking MPs, including our own High Peak member Andrew Bingham. '¨Most readers will remember the Westminster expenses' scandals, and last year the occasions where Messrs Rifkind and Straw, both former foreign secretaries, seemed to sail very close to selling connections, though in the event, and following parliamentary standards' inquiries, deemed to have broken no rules. '¨In Western Europe and the United States there are growing movements of unhealthy populism, and which bode disruptive for community wellbeing. There's no doubt that here in the UK national politicians are very unpopular, and George Osborne's recent behaviour simply makes that fact far worse.

Colin Hulley

Silverlands Park, Buxton