Care services minister Phil Hope was not at Community Care Live 09 this week. It was good timing.
If he had been at some of the sessions I attended, he would have heard stories from social workers of low morale and - perhaps this is linked - low pay.
He would have heard stories about frontline staff whose salaries are nearly half the amount the minister claimed in MPs' expenses and rewarded with abuse, intimidation and unpopularity.
Hope would recognise the final epithet.
Until justice minister Shahid Malik's late pitch last night, Hope sat at the top of the trough table, having claimed £41,709 from the taxpayer's hard-earned to make his second home "comfortable".
Hope issued an emotional mea culpa in extremis on television in which he promised to pay back the entire sum. I was pleased for the minister that he has so much cash readily available.
He was adamant that it was a response to the anger felt by his Corby constituents.
I should say: Phil Hope's majority at the 2005 general election was just 1,517 and even a small swing to the Conservatives in the next poll would see him looking for another job, regardless of whether Labour retains power.
Social care has had a trot of bad luck at government level in recent times, what with Ivan Lewis showing as much acumen with his texting ability as he undoubtedly had with his portfolio, and now this.
However, there could be one positive side-effect from this tawdry shambles. In the run-up to the next general election, MPs may be strangely silent on one of their pet subjects: benefits cheats.
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