Duncan Flynn: Why the Conservative Party needs to retain its greybeards on the green benches

Duncan Flynn is a lawyer and ward chairman of the Maida Vale Conservatives in Westminster.

The last few weeks have seen unprecedented scrutiny of our Members of Parliament which has been entirely justified and has resulted in the necessary termination of a number of long Parliamentary careers. In the last two weeks alone we have seen six Conservative MPs all with over 25 years service each announce their retirements.

This is on top of several of the Party's most senior MPs such as Michael Howard, David Curry and Ann Widdecombe already announcing the end of their careers in the Commons at the next election. Indeed, there was speculation in the Sunday Times that we could now see up to 55 Conservative MPs (nearly 30% of the parliamentary party) standing down in the aftermath of the expenses saga. It appears likely that a large percentage of those 55 would be MPs in their 50s and 60s who have served for many years and in many cases with great honour and probity.

Let me make it clear that it is not this article's purpose to support those who have abused the system and the public's trust: where it becomes obvious that an MP's conduct has made their position untenable with their constituents, natural events must be left to take their course and resignations and deselections are inevitable.

However what is concerning is the potential for long-standing MPs who have not been directly implicated in the expenses scandal deciding that now is the time to end their parliamentary careers due to an element of guilt by association. With a General Election only a year away at the most, it appears that one of the only cards left for an increasingly desperate Gordon Brown to play is the argument that the Conservative Party does not have the experience to deal with the economic crisis and other upheavals. The welcome return of Kenneth Clarke to the front bench to some degree counters this line of attack, however the fact remains that only Clarke and William Hague among the current Shadow Cabinet have Cabinet experience.

Duncan Flynn: The Ashley Mote affair shames the whole European Union

Duncan Flynn, who has worked in the European Parliament for a Conservative MEP, believes that the Ashley Mote affair is yet another example of the EU's unwillingness to face up to fraud.

The recent jailing of the obscure South East of England MEP Ashley Mote barely registered a few column inches amid the daily speculation in the UK media concerning a potential imminent General Election. However, this should not conceal the fact that a democratically elected politician who represents Britain in Brussels and Strasbourg and collects a salary of over £60,000 plus generous expenses courtesy of the UK taxpayer is now languishing in prison for nine months and yet is still, incredibly, permitted to continue as an MEP. This means that Mote continues to receive a handsome benefits package and will be able to resume his political career once his custodial sentence is completed.

For the record, Mote, who was expelled from UKIP and now sits with the Far Right Identity, Sovereignty and Tradition grouping in the European Parliament (which includes such luminaries as Jean Marie Le Pen and Alessandra Mussolini), was found guilty at Portsmouth Crown Court of twenty one separate charges of falsely claiming benefits of more than £65,000 from his local council. Despite the fact that Mote will palpably not be able to represent his several million constituents from his prison cell, the European Union have decreed that only MEPs who receive a custodial sentence in excess of twelve months can be removed from office.