By the end of the decade more than 1,200 had their snouts in the trough.

They hate us and think we all have our snouts in the trough."

Sort of like when the pork beasts had their snouts in the trough.

When Americans don't have their snouts in the trough, they turn around and practice bizarre forms of self-denial.

Both parties had big snouts in the trough.

Not only does he lack the qualities I have detailed above, but he, too, has had his snout in the trough.

Caz, Goldman, Deutsche and Nomura have their snouts in the trough on this one.

The reaction of many voters will be a "plague on all your houses" on the grounds that all political animals have their snouts in the trough.

One senior MP told a newspaper yesterday he feared MPs would be "accused of having their snouts in the trough."

“ All sides seem to have their snouts in the trough ” John Githongo Former anti-corruption tsar

We need to see now that the MDC is more than just another Zanu PF once its leaders have their snouts in the trough.

A much closer look needs to be had about who has their snouts in the trough ... the long chain of service providers, with fees coming out every which way.

The whole cabal of bankers, MPs, ministers and CEOs seem to have their snouts in the trough, roistering while we toil.

Richard Bacon, a Conservative MP, accused the BBC of having "snouts in the trough" and indulging in "cronyism."

Not only do MPs have their snouts in the trough, but they bought it on expenses, had it embellished with mock Tudor beams and acquired similar troughs for other homes dotted around the country.

Only a few MPs dare to peek above the parapet, knowing the media has long moved from healthy scepticism to unhealthy cynicism about politicians, and loves to portray them as having their snouts in the trough.

"They still have their snouts in the trough," declares the Daily Mirror, alongside a close-up picture of two pigs with the thought bubble: "When I grow up I want to be an MP.

And he says he will expose corruption: ''We will be looking at MPs who have had their snouts in the trough, not in terms of public expenses, because that is actually the tip of the iceberg.

"There seems to have been a very democratic distribution of spoils - with these latest corruption scandals, you can't say one side is more corrupt than the other, all sides seem to have their snouts in the trough," Mr Githongo says.

He may not have had his snout in the trough — or if he has, we have not learnt about it yet — but people who voted for him four years ago are thinking seriously about voting for another party at the next general election.

It has not had a pasting because Gordon Brown didn't look terribly good on YouTube, it is because millions of ordinary Labour voters have been disgusted to discover that some of the people they really respected had their snout in the trough."

Perhaps it is jealousy on our part, but it gets really "ripe" when the government then has the temerity to criticise corporate compensation when they have their snouts in the trough of our money, the useless billions sent to the EU every year to support the politicians we don't want at home.

BUG: Some critics say you've just got your snout in the trough yet again.

“It seems to me society takes its lead from its leaders and they’ve all got their snouts in the trough.”

"When society was talking about 'get your snout in the trough', 'there's no such thing as society', 'look after Number One'.

Where the public money runs deepest the hogs fight each other to get their snouts in the trough, and the big trough nowadays runs through the Pentagon.

In Scotland, where Labour is the establishment party, it is even more of a magnet for the type of people who want to get their snouts in the trough.