[Gayle]

It is alarming that politicians can behave like this and it seems like the more power they have the more it can go to their heads. For all you might whinge about Greg Pope's policies, here in Hyndburn we have a very respectable family man representing our interests.

It's very easy for me to say this because I'm still on the same side of the fence at the moment but I hope that when I'm elected (if I'm elected) I will continue to be as open and as honest as I am now. I don't like liars and I think that one of the things that is quite clear about me is that I believe that the truth is most often the best bet.

It happens in all walks of life where someone is promoted and forgets what they were doing in the first place - this happens in business when managers suddenly get promoted to director and start taking huge bonuses or when footballers get signed up by a big team and go out and buy a flash car. It's quite possibly human nature but in politics it is wrong, totally wrong - these people are there for a reason and it's not about lining their own pockets. It makes me wonder why they even thought they should be representing the people at all.

Now before anyone says that I'm contradicting myself with something on a previous thread, I'm not. I do believe the politicians should be reimbursed for their time for the work they do (if they work for it). There is just a wide, gaping hole between what they deserve and what they seem to think they should be entitled to and it's that that I think is wrong.