NEITHER Mr Moorby (December 3) nor Mrs Gidley herself should be surprised that she is attracting so much criticism from her constituents.

She thought it was OK to claim the outrageous amount of £143,000 for her expenses, making her Hampshire's most expensive MP. That was her choice but, by doing so, she opened herself to criticism and - amongst my friends at least - a lot of anger.

I'm sure she does send out a lot of letters but whether the people paying for them get any value for their money, is quite another matter.

We want people representing us who believe in exercising restraint on public expenditure, not those who, by their own actions and words, show they believe the more the merrier.

With the current state of the economy, education and the health service, not to mention trust in public servants at an all time low, why should she feel it is OK to spend more than 6.5 times the average nurses' salary on telling us why she knows best?

Elisabeth Bellingham, Romsey.