The Expenses Claims of Public Officials Are About Much More Than The Headline Figures

The recent revelations in Declassified UK regarding Labour Party leader Keir Starmers expenses claims whilst he was head of the Department for Public Prosecutions are hardly a surprise. The egregious spending of MPs and other public officials in Britain is an old story and gets many workers (rightly) angry when these same MPs are always ready to say when a workers pay claim is “too expensive”, as Starmer always is. Beyond the outrage though what should a system that allows such massive amounts to be spent tell us as communists about wider questions of the bourgeois state and how people like Starmer fit into it.

The British capitalist state has changed many times over the years as it has shifted under the weight of class struggles and to better fit the ever evolving needs of capital. It’s selection of personnel is also key with regard to making sure offices like the Crown Prosecution Service (which Starmer headed) are occupied by “reliable” people. One of the ways that you ensure the people in these offices remain reliable is to provide them with a very “generous” expense account. By enabling these people to live (at state expense) in ways that are often beyond their means the ruling class is ensuring continuing loyalty. You take a man like Keir Starmer, from a petit bourgeois background, and you ensure that he travels and socialises with the upper bourgeoisie, that he is provided with a lifestyle that takes him into at least the lower sections of the bourgeois and you are further embedding him into these networks of power.

Once someone has been a state official or a member of parliament for a decent amount of time the chances are that (in most cases) it’s the easiest job they’ve ever had, especially if they don’t make too much trouble for the ruling class. Thus they’re interests take them in the direction of defending the easy and well rewarded job they have and away from any notion of making any trouble at all for the ruling class.

Expense accounts, lifelong easy jobs, a retirement to the House of Lords when your time is up and much more, this is what the British bourgeoisie offers its humble servants like Sir Keir Starmer. Serving the interests of British imperialism is rewarding and the ruling class will make sure that you are embedded in their networks of power and receive your cut of the spoils. From the Labour Party through to the “nationalist” SNP, Britain is full of politicians playing a well remunerated role as the placemen of the ruling class. Starmer is just such example but there are thousands more like him queuing up for their cut of the spoils.