POLITICIANS. They’re all the same. That must be one of the most knuckle-headed phrases around.

Sure, there are certain recognisable types but can anyone really claim that Winston Churchill, Kier Hardie, Donald Trump, Jeremy Corbyn, Margaret Thatcher and Diane Abbott are the same?

Of course there are plenty of avaricious, self-serving people who are just in it for what they can get – be it money, power or prestige – but that’s by no means all.

I try to keep it hidden but I’m not the biggest fan of the leader of Her Majesty’s opposition. I respect his love of cricket but I secretly struggle to take his politics seriously – and I’m sure the reverse would be true were he to be aware of my existence. Despite that, not even Mr Corbyn’s staunchest detractors could accuse him of not being sincere in his convictions. Yes, the Chippenham lad has done very nicely for himself with his six-figure salary and his seven-figure pension pot but no one can claim that he went into politics for the financial rewards.

So why do they do it? I don’t mean the dodgy ones, obviously; I’m talking about those who go into the game with the best intentions of improving things.

In the grand scheme of things, unless you go for the more venal route or you get to the top of the greasy pole, the rewards aren’t that great. And the downside is that you’re setting yourself up for abuse, ridicule and hate.

Remember when Gordon Brown was PM and he was advised to smile more? He’d made his name as an intelligent and insightful operator - so long as we ignore him selling the country’s gold reserves for tuppence ha’penny. No one really cared that he had quite a serious looking phizzog – that was the face that God gave him.

But Mr Brown listened to advice from the publicity people and ended up looking a bit daft and creepy and, in short, not himself. When he did show his true nature by referring to ‘that bigoted woman’, many of us admired his judgement and honesty. We were less impressed when he apologised. He’d have been better off sticking to his guns.

The same with John Prescott when he chinned that bozo who chucked an egg at him from a couple of feet. He was forced to apologise. He should have refused, especially since he was in the right. In any case a forced apology is a second insult.

Recently, we’ve had Mrs May being encouraged to ‘dance’ on a visit to Africa. Selfishly, I was sorry to lose my title of Britain’s Worst Dancer but this was a serious lack of judgment from the Prime Minister. As any Mayor can tell you, they get used to saying no to some things (mainly suggestions for photo ‘opportunities’ from local newspapers) that could make the office look daft. When asked, Mrs May should have said: “push off! I’m the leader of one a major world power – not a performing seal”.

Maybe that’s the problem; pressure and manipulation behind the scenes. On a much smaller level, I was stitched up a few years ago when I stood for Wiltshire Council. My flag of convenience at the time was Liberal Democrat – I say that because most local politicians are (or should be) more concerned about their community than any party – and I had an agent. They wanted me to give my thoughts on traffic in Devizes to use in a campaign leaflet. I said I didn’t have any answers but I’d try to listen to experts to find some. When the leaflet was printed, I saw the headline “Don Jones has the answers to our traffic problems”. That was news to me as was the solution that was printed in my name. I never really had a chance of getting elected but that really knocked the wind out of my sails.

It’s a vicious circle. We get bad ‘uns, people don’t respect them so fewer of the good eggs throw their hats into the ring. What hope have we got of finding 98 decent people to be Wiltshire councillors? I reckon the fiasco over the temporary traffic lights up by Windsor Drive answers that.