DAVID Cameron has opened the door to anyone to become a Tory MP. Simply apply and you will be considered.

At the same time, ‘celebrities’ are lining up to put their names forward to become whiter than white candidates in the wake of the scandal over MPs expenses.

Former pop singer David Van Day, for instance, is considering standing against a lady Member who, it is said, claimed a second home allowance even though she didn’t have one.

Mr Van Day admits to a chequered history that includes blowing £100,000 on cocaine. "I have a bit of a mucky past," he is reported as saying, but then, so too, it seems have certain Honourable Members. "But all that has made me a better person," he adds.

As the debate about parliamentary reform gets underway, experts are predicting that at least 20% of MPs may stand down before the next election. Mr Cameron has also called for a reduction in the number of MPs.

We have 646 for a population of 60 million. The House of Representatives in the United States has 435 members. These represent a population of 303 million.

He has a point.

What we need are fewer and better paid representatives sitting in the House of Commons. If we don’t pay them enough, we will end up with only those who are independently wealthy being attracted into politics or those with trade union sponsorship.

Successful businessmen or talented graduates will shy away from a career where the pay is £64,000 a year. The best of the best want more than that. Not everybody can afford altruism.

After tax, £64,000 is not a lot for an MP to live in their constituency and maintain a place in London at the same time. Many honest, hardworking Members have found this to their cost as they have been drawn into the expenses row.

As for celebrities, can you see Ant and Dec giving up the millions a year they earn for seats in Parliament or Jonathan Ross or even the BBC broadcasters who have been reporting the present story and who earn much more than an MP?

Which is why we have the likes of David Van Day saying he will stand. His last high profile gig was I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here so 64 grand a year for a long run at the Whitehall Theatre of Farce probably sounds like a good deal.

As usual in life, you only get quality if you pay for it, so let’s reduce the membership of the House drastically, pay the going rate for the job and try to persuade Joanna Lumley to be Prime Minister