Moral blandt britiske politikere & "clubmen"

Den omsiggribende skandale om britiske politikeres misbrug af offentlige kasser til private formål fik forleden i den fine avis The Telegraph nogle kloge ord med på vejen af Andrew Roberts, der var forarget over premierminister Gordon Browns indirekte sammenligning af politikerne med medlemmerne af "private gentlemen clubs", d.v.s. de klubber, der mestendels er beliggende i London-bydelen St. James. Som en dedikeret og begejstret "club man" kan jeg kun være enig i udsagn som f.eks. dette:

"What infernal cheek! How dare the denizens of Westminster, mired in this cesspit of scandal of their own making, look three-quarters of a mile westwards and try to equate London clubmen with their repulsive practices. If one is looking for sleaze and corruption in today's society, where do you look for it: Westminster, or St James's? If club members were caught doing half of what it turns out MPs have been up to, they would immediately be forced to resign their memberships and never show their faces again. ...

The House of Commons has been called "the best club in London", but only by people who aren't members of any others. For it lacks the key ingredient that makes up a really good club: the blackball. Absolutely anybody can become a Member of Parliament who has the qualifications of a thrusting temperament, opinionated nature, desire to boss us about, need to show off and, very often, a gnawing inferiority complex and mother fixation. Who would want to belong to a club full of people like that? ...

If you want to witness vicious, noisy, self-interested, boorish and, we now discover, corrupt behaviour in London society, where would one go? To the sepulchral Athenaeum, courtly Brooks's, elegant White's, beautiful Garrick, noble Pratt's, witty Beefsteak or palatial Reform? Or to the chamber of the Commons on any day the House is sitting?"