Last month, the LGA launched its campaign on child protection and safeguarding through enhancing respect and confidence for social workers. I have a personal feeling that we may have to do something similar for politicians, in the current climate. I must declare an interest. I am a social worker, and not a politician. Nevertheless, I have worked with local councillors for almost four decades, and have regularly interacted with national leaders for the past two. So, I believe I can at least hold up a mirror to their values, activities and priorities. I have said previously in this column that we are well served by our political representatives – national and local – in this country. Of course there are exceptions, with sleaze occasionally descending into downright criminality. But on a comparative basis, we still have one of the cleanest systems and dedicated bunch of elected politicians in the world. I have never stood for elected office, and I fear that any attempt would have met with spectacular failure. I still believe that public servants should advise, assist and implement the political will, not manipulate it. So all officers who interact regularly with politicians should understand and respect the system, in a trusting way certainly, but warning where necessary. Perhaps it is not surprising that the great British public have less confidence, understanding and tolerance of politicians than those of us who work with them regularly. At a time of deep recession, the revelations about MPs' expense claims, nepotistic employment practices, and living standards have been deeply damaging. And the explanation that this is all within the rules makes the perception worse – an image of systematic rather than personal greed. Councillors are not immune from this reputational assault. Witness local media coverage of published allowances and expense claims. Yet they are the essential presence of our representational democracy, with no fixed hours, little personal privacy and, in this age of freedom of information and instant electronic communication, subject to regular, malicious comment. So, by all means let us vilify corruption and self-serving greed. At the same time though, we must protect the reputation and contribution of elected representatives. If we are still dissatisfied we ought to have the guts to stand for elected office ourselves.
