英国"报销门"愈演愈烈

Yes, that's right. Hazel Blears was an MP of the communities secretary, has paid back that sum. she says herself, of course that was no breaking of the rules. But just let us look at some of the language that has been used. Because of the fact that she claimed, a figure was around by 13,000 pounds of taxpayers' money towards the cost of a second home, a second home  which she ultimately then sold and didn't pay any capital gains tax.

Look at what the prime minister said a little bit earlier on this week. He  described it as "totally unacceptable behavior". The prime minister’s spokesman today said that she was doing a good job. Hazel Blears herself earlier today said that she's getting on with the job at hand. We all expect that to be a cabinet reshuffle in the period after, at 4th of June, the June elections for local elections in England, and of course elections to the European Parliament.

Plenty of people are now expecting that Hazel Blears will be on her way out. Frankly, there is still huge amounts of pressure on anyone within the cabinet that has this sort of damned claims that these expenses claims hanging over them. Quite clearly what Hazel Blears, didn’t I, she herself says was not breaking the rules: MPs at that time did not have to pay capital gains tax unlike you or I, if we were lucky enough to have a second home. But clearly it's not simply whether or not they stop fast at the edge of the law; it's whether or not what they did in the eyes of the public was acceptable, quite clearly in this instance Hazel Blears' pressure still remains.

“党鞭”（Whip）是议会内的政党纪律主管，功能是为了确保议员按照政党立场行事。由于议员是代表政党当选，选民又是根据政党标签投票，如果每个议员都以选区利益或良心为名各自行事，那么选民就无法要政党和议员就委托负起责任。这是“党鞭制”的价值（normative）依据，因为按照内阁制，国会可以通过否决政府重大法案倒阁。党鞭是英国和共和联邦国家的西敏寺式（Westminster）议会的特色。

在英国，Whip的另一个意义是党鞭每周发出给议员的书面指示（方便行文，以下译作“鞭令”），根据英国政党实行的“党鞭”制度，负责传达党领导意见、监督本党议员行为特别是投票的“党鞭”会根据不同的情况发出三种“鞭令”。如果是“一线鞭令”，本党议员可以选择不参加投票；二线鞭令，本党议员必须参加投票，但如果不按党的指示投票不会受到党内处分；“三线鞭令”最严格，相当于“甲级动员”，不仅必须参加投票，还必须按党的指示投票，否则将受到处分，包括丢官或升官无望，下届选举时党部不予助选或提名。最严重的是“解除党鞭”（withdrawal of the whip），让阁下从此随心所欲投票，也就是开除党籍。