Matthew Flinders: Everyone should sing out in praise of politics

As we reach the final day of the election campaign, it is impossible to deny the conclusion that New Labour's central aim to rebuild public trust and confidence in politics has failed. And yet it is exactly because politics is held in such low esteem that someone needs to swim against the tide and dare to argue that democratic politics matters.

It matters because it achieves far more than we generally give it

credit for.

Even though I hesitate to put such unfashionable views on paper – I can already hear the quills being sharpened – the vast majority of MPs are over-worked and under-paid, those terrible "bureaucrats" that everyone wants sacked generally do a fantastic job in the face of huge

pressures, and that, most broadly, democratic politics delivers far more than most people acknowledge or understand.

The time has come to stand up and fight back in the name of politics, because we cannot allow our political system to become synonymous with moats, duck houses and bath plugs.

Public apathy and distrust places a mighty weight on those who have stepped forward on behalf of society in order to attempt to deal with the wave after wave of crises (social, economic, environmental) that crash upon the shore of politics with ever increasingly frequency.

Let me be even bolder. A cost-benefit analysis of the Telegraph's exposure of the MPs' expenses system would probably reveal a negative balance sheet. The sensational drip-drip-drip approach to covering the issue was the political equivalent of napalm or carpet-bombing and appears to have left all politicians as weak and cowering aspects of a rather dejected political landscape.

A less sensationalist but more accurate account of the MPs' expenses scandal actually reveals a small number of MPs who may have broken the law; a second larger group of between 40-50 MPs who had clearly abused the spirit, if not the letter, of the system; and then a larger group of possibly 200 MPs who had been asked to make repayments owing to a mixture of administrative incompetence, confusion about the scope of legitimate expenses and the rather harsh retrospective reasoning of Sir Thomas Legg.

If you add the members of those three groups together you find that the "scandal" – the "meltdown" of British democracy – did not even involve half of the members of the House of Commons.

Let us not pretend that the Telegraph's coverage of the MPs' expenses scandal was concerned with public propriety, just as the tabloids' focus on Madeleine McCann is not driven by concern for the child. The word "Madeleine" sells: the word "sleaze" sells. My message to politicians is simple: "Stand up, dust yourself down and begin to fight back".

I am not arguing that democratic politics as we know it is perfect, that reform of some form might not be necessary or that the MPs' expenses scandal did not reveal some politicians acting in a completely immoral (and possibly illegal) manner. But I will not let the behaviour of a few destroy the achievements of the many.

As a university professor of politics and as a governor of a large NHS foundation trust, I know how democratic politics can, and does, affect and shape people's lives positively. It saves lives. It forges a sense of collective endeavour, social support and a sense of humility.

Although imperfect, we can do much worse than honour "mere politics". Indeed, we must examine very carefully the claims of those who would do better or who would apparently turn their backs on politics completely.

However, as part of this fightback, politicians urgently need to rediscover the moral nerve and capacity to speak with the authority and weight of their predecessors.

At the heart of this rediscovery must be the acceptance that, as Churchill put it, the "the first business of government is to govern, which may at times call for the deliberate endurance of unpopularity".

The public mood has shifted away from anger and fury towards

politicians to a calmer plea for honesty. The public are not stupid. They understand that the financial situation is not good and that significant cuts within the public sector will have to be made, just as they are aware that responding to climate change is likely to require lifestyle changes. But politicians must be willing to demonstrate courage and an appetite to speak with emotion, clarity and direction.

They need to be confident about what they believe is true, set out their agenda and not be buffeted by the next day's headlines or focus groups. Political leadership: nothing more, nothing less.

Speaking in defence of politics is not easy. The anti-political climate has reached such a level that anyone daring to stand up for politicians or political processes risks being immediately labelled as irrational or – even worse – harbouring political ambitions themselves.

I harbour no ambitions within party politics but can no longer stand on the sidelines and watch a noble profession – public service interwoven with a belief in the capacity of collective endeavour – be the constant focus of ridicule and derision. Especially when anti–political arguments are deployed as a Trojan horse for market-based solutions that risk deconstructing a public sphere that we have spent a century building.

Almost half a century ago, Bernard Crick wrote In Defence of Politics as a sharp and thoughtful rejoinder to those who would decry the achievements and principles of democratic politics. His argument is

even more relevant today. Sing out in praise of politics.

Matthew Flinders is a professor in the University of Sheffield's politics department. He is delivering a lecture today entitled In Defence of Politics.