Why is everyone so surprised? After all, expenses-fiddling has been going on since Adam & Eve put in claims for fresh fig leaves and their relocation costs.

Our MPs aren't especially well-paid and the potential for corrupt practices is negligible in comparison to that available to legislators in some other countries - not that this excuses what a few of them have been up to. The situation seems to be down to the battle to keep the details of the expenses out of public view, against the backdrop of the current economic climate, resulting in a loss of faith in our politicians. Or so say the Muggles.

When I wrote about the House of Commons in AQ Vol. 66, no.3, I speculated a time of 14.10 for the de Montfort Parliament of 20th January 1265 [click here for chart]. I find that I wrote, "What British politics really comes down to is not so much power but money... Looking at the money houses in this chart, 2nd, 8th and 11th (my, ours, national), there is an obvious clash between the rulers, Moon, Saturn and Mars. Whichever party forms the government of the day, the electorate can never be happy with taxations, neither the method of collection nor the intended expenditure." (I'd forgotten I'd written that!)

Sometimes we dread an ongoing stressful configuration of outer planets, forgetting that, especially with Saturn involved, two may be tied in a tense situation for some time and that it's afterwards that it all falls apart. Saturn and Uranus had been in opposition for some time during 2008 and 2009, with a desire for "enlightenment" being frustrated by obduracy. Heather Brooke, a journalist, had been fighting for years for detailed disclosure of MPs' expenses under the Freedom Of Information Act, but had been blocked and blocked again. A High Court ruling in her favour on 16th May 2008 resulted in the House of Commons declaring that it would publish everything in the following October. This was just in time for the first Saturn / Uranus opposition! Oh, and the opposition was squaring the House's Pluto - dark practices? Disclosure didn't come. Finally the information was acquired by underhand Neptunian means, brokered by one John Wick, a Conservative-supporting ex-SAS officer with alleged financial difficulties, claiming he wanted to expose the corruption. The ongoing opposition is currently out-of-orb. With the astrological pressure off, The Daily Telegraph began its feed of revelations on Friday 8th May 2009.

Elsewhere in The Astrology of the House of Commons I described the Sun in this chart as the astrological symbol of Parliament itself, obviously. The Moon, while the symbol of the electorate, is also the Ascendant ruler, and somehow part of the chart's intended focus, the representation of the people. Mercury is the symbol of The Speaker, as the MP elected from amongst themselves to parley with the Monarch (Virgo is on the cusp of the 4th house, 7th from 10th), who is then "captive" in Westminster (combust the Sun) and yet set apart from other MPs (retrograde and separating from conjunction).

Why did the MPs turn on The Speaker? Michael Martin may not be the best Speaker of all recorded time, but this job is to ensure that debates in the Chamber are conducted in an orderly manner and to interface symbolically with the Monarch, not to protect MPs from the press and the electorate by covering up their less than ethical activities. As George Thomas wrote in Mr Speaker, "... whereas the struggle of my early predecessors had been to protect the rights of the Commons against the monarch, a modern Speaker's struggle is to be independent of the Government. In former days the monarch was the Government, for he was all-powerful. Now the Government is all-powerful and I believe passionately that the Speaker's role is to confine himself to protect the rules of the House..." A servant of the House, perhaps, but as the representatives' representative - and as the House should represent the people, what, if anything, should be protected (apart from the rules, etc) is the electorate's interests, albeit indirectly.

Mercury is square Jupiter, the Monarch or government. The midpoint is 20 Pisces in the 10th house and normally (these days - let's not forget that square to Pluto) things rub along, by mutual consent and respect. However the ongoing Saturn/ Uranus opposition has been hitting it, quite ferociously as the Pluto is energised also.

Also, Mercury at 07 Aquarius is opposite Neptune at 10 Leo, with all the associated confusions, and along came a solar eclipse in January 2009 at 06.30 Aquarius. At 2.35pm on 19th May, Michael Martin announced that he would relinquish the position on 21st June 2009.

Michael Martin's chart [click here for chart] has interconnections with the House of Commons chart, as we'd expect. Most notably his Pluto is on the House's Mercury / Neptune axis and his Sun / Saturn conjunction (both close to his own MC) is conjunct the House's Ascendant. His Pluto (and the House's Mercury / Neptune) was aspected by the solar eclipses of August 2008 and January 2009. However on 17th May 2009, when he was coming to realise that he could hold on to the position no longer, he was hit by his progressed Moon forming a semi-square aspect to his Saturn (hmmm, so what?) and the stationing Saturn squaring his natal Uranus - twice in the same day.

Of the January eclipse's family (11 North), Bernadette Brady wrote in The Eagle and the Lark that "...individuals may suddenly change the groups with which they are mixing..." and that there may positive outcomes, also that "...individuals can trust the situations that arise and allow themselves to be led along by their momentum." He may not have trusted the situation, but he was definitely swept along by it.

The same eclipses affected the House of Commons chart, specifically its Mercury, Sun, Venus, Neptune and, to a lesser extent, its Jupiter. The August eclipse might seem a good idea from the electorate's point of view, as Bernadette writes that this family (10 South) concerns itself with "...breaking out of a very negative situation into a more positive space containing many options." Well, many other options for some of the MPs, perhaps!

A lot of excitement was generated by the chattering classes, as this was the first time for over 300 years that a Speaker had been forced out by the House, the previous occasion being when Sir John Trevor was found guilty (of accepting a bribe) on 7th March (OS) 1695. I saw no astrological parallels between the two events, and besides, the situation was reversed: Sir John Trevor was guilty, not the MPs. From time to time an MP must resign (or "apply for the Chiltern Hundreds"), but no-one suggests that the system requires a radical overhaul.

There are numerous progressions and transits currently in play, but the most potent may be the current Jupiter / Neptune conjunction on the Moon. All the previous dubious dealings are being published and relayed to the populace, and concern is expressed that we the, people, are losing faith in our electoral system, also that we may become so disenchanted with the main parties that we vote for the BNP in the European elections on 4th June. That's of those who do bother to vote, of course - in the European Parliamentary election of 2004, the UK turnout was 39%. Perhaps if more people voted, the BNP wouldn't stand a chance?

And now the MPs are tumbling, their positions crumbling away, almost on a daily basis. Many are affected by the eclipses or the Jupiter / Neptune conjunction - but so are many other people without losing their careers. Irritatingly, I don't have timed charts for most of these MPs. However, in between the dog food and the plasma televisions and glittery loo seats and non-existent mortgage payments and the porn films, were a few claims which not so much embarrassing as entertaining - for the rest of us. Douglas Hogg and his moat-cleaning, for example. Well, of course he has Saturn (boundaries, defences) in a water sign - Cancer. I thought this couldn't be topped until we heard about Peter Viggers, his duck island and his gold-monogrammed well cover. His whats? He has lots of water in his chart too. Oh, you have to hand it to the Tories: they do it with better style!

A self-styled political anorak, Mark Thompson, has been number-crunching. He has found, broadly, that the MPs in the safest seats are inclined to have the highest expenses. Do all those fixed planets lead them to believe that their positions are unassailable?

Let's not forget, though, that some MPs are far more conscientious with the public purse. Laura Moffatt, who could claim for a second home, and did so for a while but gave it up, now sleeps on a camp-bed in her office when she needs to. Chris Mullin was asked by the Fees Office if he'd really intended to claim for a black-and-white television licence. He told them that this was correct: the set might be 33 years old, but it still worked perfectly well, thank you. (And presumably he brought it to Westminster from his main home.)

Somehow the Fees Office is part of the problem. It's not clear to me whether they could not or would not apply the principles of rules more rigorously, either because of lack of staff, lack of "teeth" or lack of political will, but it's certain that they did not. In the House of Commons chart I'd take the Fees Office to be the 6th house, a "servant" of the House. It's ruled by Jupiter, at 02 Taurus, with no essential dignity and at the apex of the T-square formed together with the opposition of Mercury, Sun and Venus to Neptune, in the 3 money houses. They just kept plodding on, doing what they were doing, apparently. But deep in the 6th house lurks Pluto at 20 Sagittarius, asking to be reawoken by the Saturn/ Uranus oppositions. Also the House of Commons has not long had its 3rd Pluto return (oh, they come, they go), and Pluto has now entered Capricorn within the same house. Does it need to change its working practices? There's not too much wrong with the rationale of the expenses system in itself, just that the system can be abused by some if a closer watch isn't maintained.

So, do we expect sweeping changes? In a chart with 7 planets in fixed signs? Don't be silly!

30th May 2009

First published in Astrology Quarterly, Spring 2009, Vol.78, no.2.

Data, Sources & References:
The House of Commons, 20th January (OS) 1265, time rectified to 14.10, Westminster 51n30, 00w08. [click here for chart] From The Astrology of the House of Commons, Caroline Gerard, AQ Vol. 66, no.3
Michael John Martin, 3rd July 1945, 2.40pm (12.40GMT), Glasgow 55n52, 04w14. Source: BC. [click here for chart]
Douglas Martin Hogg, 5th February 1945, around 0.45am (23.45GMT 4th February 1945), Chelsea, London, 51n30, 00w09. Source: his father, Lord Hailsham.
Peter John Viggers, 3rd March 1938 (no time known), Gosport .
MPs' data from The House of Commons 1992 to 1997 by Caroline Gerard
The Eagle and the Lark by Bernadette Brady, Samuel Weiser, Inc., 1992
Mr Speaker by George Thomas, Arrow Books Limited, 1986
Who's Who, Dod's Parliamentary Companion, various newspaper and television reports.
Mark Thompson - "More or Less" safe seats expenses analysis