Published: 10/02/2010 11:49 - Updated: 10/02/2010 11:51

MR LATHAM is to be congratulated on his letter about those of our parliamentary representatives who appear to have devoted more of their energies to expense claims than to the scrutiny of an overbearing executive which, if evidence given to the Iraq enquiry is to be believed, is now more of a dictatorship than any monarch since Magna Carta.

I share Mr Latham’s views but the remedy must lie with the electorate, and we who live in the new parliamentary constituency of the Derbyshire Dales may only express our displeasure by voting for a single MP to represent us.

As a lifelong supporter of the Conservative Party I am more than a little disappointed to find that the Conservative Constituency Association appears to support the re-election of Patrick McLoughlin who despite his protestations of innocence last year, has now repaid £4,058.54p following Sir Thomas Legg’s commission, a sum which places him in the top 16 per cent of the 389 MPs ordered to repay monies that were wrongfully obtained.

I urge the Conservative Association to find a new prospective parliamentary candidate to fight the next election, someone untainted by the expenses scandal, who will not shy from criticism of those Conservative MPs who have brought our party into disrepute, and who will support wholesale constitutional reform of the House of Commons to ensure that it can effectively curb the excesses of the Executive.

It matters not that Mr McLoughlin gave good service in the past. What matters is that on a fundamental issue of principle Mr McLoughlin was found wanting — too much.

CHARLES SWABEY OSMASTON