Smell something?: Nigel Farage adds voice to calls to stop Parliament sleaze
Smell something?: Nigel Farage adds his voice to calls to stop Parliament sleaze

Ukip leader Nigel Farage has added his voice to the fray over the latest expenses scandal to hit parliament.

Writing for the Guardian, European Union MEP Farage condemned MPs and Lords who were alleged to have accepted cash in exchange for asking questions.

Farage slammed politicians and blamed Westminster for creating the environment for murky deals to thrive.

He wrote: "The political class is in it for the money. Maybe not always for personal preferment but the tide of cash that flows into politics surely runs through the smaller tributaries too."

As head of the Europhobic party, Farage intimated that an even bigger scandal was waiting to be uncovered at the home of the EU -Brussels - where the European Commission is based.

Farage called on Westminster to create a central register for all lobbying and donations and also for a form of recall for votes to turf out MPs who misbehave between general elections.

Deputy prime minister Nick Clegg said he would move a bill along those lines before the summer recess.

Calling for Britain to adopt the United States' model on lobby interests, Farage said it increased transparency.

"If a member of the house is in close co-operation with a business in their constituency, everybody knows about it and can vote with that knowledge in mind.

Feel their wrath

"It is clean and above board and means that there is nothing underhand and no shame attached to political donations."

Farage said of the recall process: "It is true accountability - and not just a means to ensure the ultimate say is held by the represented not the representative but to act as a deterrent for any malpractice. No ifs, no buts. Those who annoy their electorate must feel their wrath."

Farage's contribution to the debate on sleaze comes with Ukip still riding high in the popularity polls, following its success at recent county elections and in six by-elections since 2011.

Tory MP Patrick Mercer quit the party whip but kept his seat in Newark in the wake of footage which apparently showed him agreeing to ask questions in the Commons about Fiji for cash.

Two Labour Peers and one Ulster Unionist Party Peer in the House of Lords were also caught in a newspaper sting.

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