AS WE all sit agog watching the Parliamentary gravy train not so much hit the buffers as fall off the fiscal Tay Bridge, and been left musing if there’s ever any point listening to, never mind trusting, our MPs again, I’ve found a heartwarming story.

This is a man in complete contrast to those so-called representatives of us mere plebs, who have been fleeced in a manner that had we, the people, pulled a such stroke on our employers, it’d have left us staring at prison sentences.

Businessmen generally do not get a good press in terms of their social conscience. Dear old Sir Fred Goodwin, chief executive of the Royal Bank of Scotland, once known as a tireless worker for charity, has been exposed as one whose main charitable interest was himself, leading to the catchphrase from the film Wall Street “greed is good” being revamped to “greed is Goodwin”.

So step forward Brian Burnie, who has made all his money himself, starting as a grocery delivery boy in Newcastle to become a multi-millionaire from his recruitment agency business.

But that’s only the half of it. He plans to sell up his country house hotel, lovingly created from institutional council use, and give the profits to cancer charities.

What’s more his ambition is to die penniless. He says: “We come into this world with nothing and we should leave with nothing.”

Which is a salutary thought when you consider how much time and effort many humans put into accruing cash long after their physical needs are satiated.

Revealingly, it’s a philosophy not shared by his accountant, of whom Mr Burnie says: “He thinks I’m mad. He said, ‘Brian, you’ve got the biggest heart in the world’. Unfortunately, it’s in an old man’s body. I want (the sale) to be my legacy.”

In 1993, he bought Doxford Hall, near Alnwick, in Northumberland, and lavished £16m turning the 1817, house, designed by top Georgian architect John Dobson, into a super-duper hotel and spa.

Just weeks from his 65th birthday, sale of the hotel and 10-acre estate will fund a cancer nurse for north Northumberland, employed by Macmillan Cancer Support and Marie Curie Cancer Care. He will also buy and help run vehicles to take patients to and from hospitals.

Having lived in the North East, I can verify that Northumberland is one of Britain’s most beautiful, but sparsely populated counties. However, if you’re very ill, or immobilised, then a good view will not achieve what Mr Burnie’s generosity will do.