There is that saying “It's better to beg for forgiveness than to ask for permission.”
With many businesses you have to pay from your own wallet and then get recompense from the company second, this means that people think twice before they spend the money.
In the case of the politicians if the people who had to approve the expense were a committee of the general public there would be a drastic reduction in costs
It all gets back to the fact that our politicians have zero oversight on what they do, spend or how they act.
As can be seen from the recent bad activities of a few politicians (Craig Thompson for one ) there is never any penalty
IMHO if the opposition leader stood up and shot the PM the Parliament would not censure him, they would form a committee (Yes minister) and life would carry on as usual
