Our puerile politicians need to get a grip on real issues

PARTS

of Britain are heavily flooded but it is the Government that seems to be all at sea. As another Establishment scandal unravels, the political response has been found painfully wanting.

Ousted Barclays boss Bob Diamond was the only one who shone during last Wednesday’s turgid three-hour probe by the Treasury Select Committee.

The following day, a Parliamentary debate on how best to investigate the Libor rate-fi xing fiddle descended into the unedifying spectacle of George Osborne and Ed Balls trading insults in a bid to shore up their own reputations.

Political point-scoring will no doubt pick up pace this week as Conservative rebels try to block a handful of Lib-Dem obsessives who, bizarrely, remain hell-bent on pushing Lords reform to the top of the agenda.

This pointless constitutional twiddling was the price extracted by the junior Coalition partners so they would allow boundary changes that will benefit the Tories.

Rebellion, blackmail and puerile insults... that is what appears to occupy our Parliament, while voters worry about paying their bills, heating their homes and feeding their families.

No wonder our politicians seem out of touch and out of their depth.

They will remain in deep water until they grow up, get a grip on the rudder and, fi nally, get Britain growing again.