The Ballad of the MP’s Expenses (to the tune of the Wild Rover)

I’ve been your MP for many a year

And I spent all your money, took every due care

But please re-elect me, now I’ve paid back some loot

I managed to fiddle before this dispute.

 

Chorus

 

And it’s yeah, yeah, ever

Yeah, yeah, ever, more, more

For I’m your hog member

Your honourable whore.

 

I’ll tell you my tale if you’re willing to hear

I was born to find claret, malt whiskey – not beer

Like those commoners drink in their houses so small,

I’ve always believed I had a much higher call.

 

I served on the Council, but the perks were quite thin

Then my whelk stall went bankrupt, and my wife hit the gin.

I felt hopeless and angry, and vented my spleen

Then my party said ‘this man is hungry and mean’.

 

In the hustings I beat the do-gooding has-beens

And was chosen to echo my party’s machine

With my no–nonsense sound bites ‘bout Europe and cuts

Plus some local concerns about unmarried sluts.

 

My income as MP is a mere 70k

But with claims for expenses, I can double my pay

A second home in London and a flat by the sea

All mortgages paid for by a kind Treasury.

 

A larger home beckoned the fatter I grew

As did my status – t’was only my due.

So I switched my main residence round every year –

To suggest this was greedy is really a smear.

 

It’s a family business, when all’s said and done

So I claim for my wife as well as my son.

She is my secretary, he drives the car

When he’s not running his London wine bar.

 

I soon reached the limit of all I could claim

But at the start of the tax year, re-submitted again.

My duck house was sinking, it would no longer float

So I claimed for a new one, fixed the leak in the moat.

 

Three plasma screen tellies, five i-pods and more

Plus a new granny flat and a new ballroom floor;

I don’t think you realise how long it takes me

To claim these expenses, but I hope you now see.

 

So now I’ve been candid, I’ve held nothing back

I feel hurt and betrayed to be put on this rack.

It’s all about Britain – it’s not about me – – – –

So please re-elect me as your local MP.