How we have got here: Who runs the country?

MPs are less in charge than you might think. Those actually in Government (Ministers and junior ministers) get a lot of guidance from the civil service. The other MPs (including Labour ones) are supposed to be more like a Board of Directors keeping the Government in order and holding it to account. They haven't. They do have the authority to insist the Government explains itself but presumably for a quiet life, chose not to exercise it.

Parliament hasn't done it's job properly for a long time. The opposition was effectively AWOL for a decade and the Labour party cultivated very strong loyalty in it's MPs to the point that they mostly do as the Government says not vote in Parliament as independent minds. MPs collectively abrogated their duties to hold the Government to account. That's why things are in such a mess.

With regard to expenses, MPs seem mostly to view them as an entitlement. They move homes, buy goods and submit claims as a matter of course to enrich their lives not simply as and when they incurr the minimum of costs required to do their job. HM Revenue and Customs would take a dim view of this if I did it. Whoever oversees MP's expenses has not done their job. A position of deference was taken long ago, perhaps when MPs [i]were[/i] mostly decent people who didn't routinely claim the maximum allowance. That deference has not altered to combat the rise of career politicians continually on the make.

In many areas this country is falling apart because people with responsibility are not doing their jobs. The FSA were asleep at the wheel. The banks were too. MPs do not do their duties. The Government sits there playing with itself. The MOD believe everything is going great and they always buy the best stuff. The NHS management look busy and cherry pick statistics to show pretend improvements while elderly patients die in filthy wards. The Police pick and choose the crimes they investigate 'reduce' crime by not recording it. The justice system is not working and due process is being trampled on. Moral hazards and rewards for failure are everywhere. I guess this denial of responsibility arises due to it being the path of least resistance.