Bernard Ingham: Abuses of power must be halted to save British democracy

To this day very few would challenge his assertion. But many would argue that it has become a source of complacency when there is nothing for the democracies to be complacent about.

Indeed, democracy continues to make a very bad fist of preventing abuses of power. You can see the results of its failure in the eurozone crisis and the global financial meltdown that preceded the Greek tragedy.

To quote only four domestic examples, it lies behind such ills as the Government’s £150bn budget deficit that Gordon Brown and Ed Balls were allowed to run up; the Parliamentary expenses scandal, which has badly damaged respect for our politicians; a public sector that is seriously out of control; and the disgraceful self-indulgence of FTSE 100 directors with an average annual earnings rise of 49 per cent while sacking the poor bloody infantry as the economy stutters.

Government, as the democratic representative and supposed protector of the people, signally failed to curb capitalist excesses that have now produced four years of at best economic stagnation that steadily impoverishes the worst off. Given the global power of the City of London, this was a terrible dereliction of duty.

Parliamentary scrutiny – and the much vaunted adversarial nature of Westminster – did very little to curb Brown’s ruinous spending spree or, put another way, wholesale bribery of the voters with their own money.

It has manifestly failed to keep public sector pay and perks within bounds or to ensure that the people get their money’s worth out of our servants. But is it any wonder when too many Parliamentarians had their noses in the trough?