My hair shirt is rougher than yours

Really, this hair shirt campaign to talk down the salaries and expenses of MPs is becoming rather ridiculous and we are in danger of throwing the baby out with the bath water.

The disgraceful antics of some, not all, MPs to manipulate a deliberately lax and imprecise set of "rules" for their own enrichment should not mask the need to reward MPs appropriately.

In this day and age it is unreasonable to expect to attract high calibre candidates from a broad cross section of society and all parties unless the rewards are proportionate to the responsibility.

The whole system needs transforming. We have far too many MPs and far too many ministers and others on the Government payroll. The power of the whips is too great. Back bench MPs have little authority or purpose other than to hang around parliament waiting to be told when and how to vote. For too many, perhaps most, an MP's success is measured by gaining ministerial office, and all their efforts are geared in that direction.

We need much smaller Government. Rather than a headline grabbing suggestion that Cameron would cut the pay of his cabinet ministers he would be much better to promise to cut the size of his Government by 50%. The argument, often aired, that there is too much work for ministers to do is nonsense. Ministers should create clear policies and priorities and oversee the results - not try to micromanage delivery.

Ministers should be more accountable to Parliament and backbench MPs more free to speak and vote independently.

Their remuneration package should be transparent and reflect the rewards that might be expected of a reasonably successful professional.