Douglas Hogg may overtake Margaret Moran’s Southampton dry rot claim and go to the top of the pops with his £2000 claim to dredge the moat at Kettlethorpe Hall. [“Claims must only be made for expenditure that it was necessary for a Member to incur to ensure that he or she could properly perform his or her parliamentary duties”].
http://www.nextleft.org/2009/05/very-big-house-in-country.html

Though this is all very much keeping in tradition with the Parliamentary history of the property (which was the home of Katherine Swynford, “the third wife of John of Gaunt, through whose children the royal houses of Tudor, Stuart and Hanover traced their descent from the Plantagenet Kings of England”)
http://www.kettlethorpe.com/village.html

In the 18thcentury, Kettlethorpe passed from the Hall to the Amcotts family, whose arms are displayed over the door. In this period Kettlethorpe became a very large house, and the obituary for Sir Wharton Amcotts (another MP) in 1807 asserts that “…at no place was the old English hospitality kept up with greater spirit than at Kettlethorpe park”.

But shortly thereafter it fell into disrepair, and the present house was essentially reconstructed out of the old manor by Weston Cracroft-Amcotts (who represented mid-Lincolnshire in Parliament) in the 1860’s …

In the 1980’s, Kettlethorpe passed back into the hands of a Parliamentarian, the Rt.Hon. Douglas Hogg, QC, MP. In the 1990’s his wife was given the title of Baroness Hogg of Kettlethorpe in recognition of her work in Downing Street. It is a curious coincidence that the Hogg arms, like the Swynfords’, consist of a shield bearing three boars’ heads.

Hahaha, you’re sounding a little desperate.

If the Tories are “broken” then Labour can only be in smithereens…

LibDems next apparently, anyway.

cjcjc,
stop thinking like a football fan with tribal allegiance as his guiding star-shit on the villa and shit on the blues.

The fact of the matter is that they are disgraceful.
Both Labour and Tory MPs.
Their conduct defied the wildest, most cynical expectations.
Here’s a fat bunch of wealthy individuals literally abusing their position.
They can do stuff behind the little people’s back “because they can”. And I find it infuriating, especially when – I repeat both Labour and Tory MP- are constantly reminding us of how tight the public purse should be.
So, leave aside tribal allegiance and don’t vote for either at the next elections.

(Happy to see them all f*****, needless to say. Esp. Michael Martin. What a guy.)

Claude – it’s “Newswire’s” tribal allegiance which seems to be showing…though see #3 above…

“stop thinking like a football fan with tribal allegiance as his guiding star-shit on the villa and shit on the blues.”

I think cjcjc has half a point. I’ve watched the usual right wing lot on here very much on side in this all, they’ve barely said a word to defend the lot of these MPs regardless of the side those MPs are on.

All in all it’s fairly balanced, and you have to expect a liberal/left blog to take bigger shots at those in blue, but aside from an article about Blears there’s been less visible condemnation of the frankly more criminal practices of those actually governing us. But then that seems to be something regarding the media in general, they’ve swallowed up Smith’s excuses among others and seem to be letting them stew without actually accepting them, rather than pressing home on this scandal.

What Labour have done is worse because

a) they’re in government

b) they’re supposed to be the party of social justice

c) they promised to be whiter than white

c) they refused to give above-inflation pay rises to nurses etc

d) they’ve gone after “benefit thieves” in scaremongering poster ads

e) they’ve had the power to reform this system but never did

Of course, the Tories would be just as bad had they been in power – but they haven’t been in power since 1997 and they wouldn’t have tried to pretend they weren’t nasty.

So this article should be called “The Broken Parties?”.

Incidentally,
you know if you’ve looked at my blog how much I find the Daily Mail toxic and ridiculous at the same time. But on this issue, I must say they’ve been alright so far.
After industrial rants at Labour, as the scandal moved on to Tory MPs, for the past two days the Mail have been consistent in their criticism.

I really hope this may be a watershed in British political history, a bit like the Clean Hands scandal was in Italy back in 1992. A corrupt, rotten, old political class so corrupt that they’re not even aware they are corrupt.

I am seriously praying there isnt a third instalment of the scandal centred around the LibDems. Because 1) that would really destroy any faith (Im not a LibDem but that’s where my vote went back in 2005) and 2) the BNP would then intercept most protest votes.

Yeah, it’s going to be interesting to see what the Lib Dem’s have in their closet. I’m *hoping* nothing, as you are, and would have thought the sensible thing for them to do (given they’re last in line) would be to brief the press as to who in their party has been doing wrong and what they’re going to do about it (which would put them also a step ahead of the other parties that have just sat on their hands in the whole affair). But I’m guessing they’re also hoping to steer clear of anything til after Wednesday so that they can broadly attack both the Tories and Labour at PMQs? I don’t know, it’s such a strange time.

My understanding is that the Lib Dems are also in the doo-doo over this – we should know by the end of the week.

I expect the first consequence will be to depress turn-out in the Euros, and I am afraid that the BNP will have a very good election indeed.

Well, Lord Rennard (LibDem “CEO”) should have been chased a little harder on this one:

“LORD Rennard of Wavertree was forced to defend his second home expense claims last night.

The Liverpool-born Liberal Democrat peer claimed more than £40,000 for a second home despite owning an apartment less than two miles from Westminster.

He apparently used the cash to pay for a holiday home in Eastbourne, Sussex.”

http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverpool-news/regional-news/2009/05/11/liverpool-peer-lord-rennard-of-wavertree-defends-expenses-92534-23590131/

Have the LibDems paid back the money they took from that crooked hedge fund manager yet??

The important thing with this is that if the BNP do have a good election, that the parties at the top understand it’s their fault this is the case.

The main parties should sack anyone who’s been “flipping” properties, or has claimed for swimming pools. Get rid of them straight away. Doesn’t matter if their cabinet/frontbench teams are then full of new faces – it might do some good. But only if the parties are seen to suffer will they be able to recover from this.

Either that or they hand their errant bastard MPs over to the police for questioning, although I think that will make them look even worse. But justice must be served.

Well, at least one LD frontbencher must have done something pretty awful, if reports that he or she asked Clegg for an assurance that no sacking would result from the expenses scandal are aught to go by (he refused to give it). That story could relate to Lord R, of course, but I’m pretty sure an MP was implied. The trouserpress and eyeliner certainly don’t give much credence to the notion that the Lib Dems have a significantly better culture around expenses.

I expect the first consequence will be to depress turn-out in the Euros, and I am afraid that the BNP will have a very good election indeed.

Yep that’s my sense too…

The seriously worrying bit is that if they manage to take half a dozen seats (which I now think must be a possibility) it might tempt the owner of a failing tabloid (I won’t name it but it’s not too hard to work out which one I have in mind) to back them as a way of distinguishing his rag from the others… in that case the BNP could demand “equal coverage” from the BBC which is a win-win for them, as either they get or else a refusal further buffs up their anti-establishment stance.

The guardian link is short on detail, but heavy on class envy, e.g. Michael Ancram claimed £14k in expenses despite having nobility ancestry and owns 3 properties. So are Guardian hacks paid expense claims on the basis of their private wealth and background?

There are several differences with Labour and Conservatives. Some are summarised by Rayyan above. Local Tories will ensure that a few of the worst offenders are deselected or at least reprimanded. Whereas, the middle-class socialists and New Labour careerists shoe-horned into Labour constituencies will just carry-on, such is the disregard for Labour vote fodder from the leadership.

There will be Lib Dem offenders, but as there are so few MPs, the coverage will be minimal.

“The seriously worrying bit is that if they manage to take half a dozen seats (which I now think must be a possibility) it might tempt the owner of a failing tabloid (I won’t name it but it’s not too hard to work out which one I have in mind) to back them as a way of distinguishing his rag from the others… in that case the BNP could demand “equal coverage” from the BBC which is a win-win for them, as either they get or else a refusal further buffs up their anti-establishment stance.
”

The Independent?

Time for a nice big poster proclaiming ‘Benefits cheats: we’re cracking down’, illustrated by a photo of Hazel Blears or Geoff Hoon- or, indeed, James Purnell.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_KCmvhUwcuwQ/SgfgTa5eHFI/AAAAAAAAAd0/b8VhbcK_WFM/s1600-h/Fraud1_1_image.jpg

Hmm, proof that there is somebody else out there whose Photoshop skills are as bad as mine.

The Independent?

LOL the indy aint a tabloid…the Express?

“The guardian link is short on detail, but heavy on class envy, e.g. Michael Ancram claimed £14k in expenses despite having nobility ancestry and owns 3 properties.”

If you were worth millions (with extra income from “a small estate”) would you claim that £100 pool repairs were necessary for your parliamentary work?

Reads to me like condemnation of some of the wealthiest 1% caught with their hands in the till…

Totally agree that claims, such as for pools, are a disgrace and should be paid back. Those MPs should show contrition and the worst cases should be made to stand down or be deselected. However, it is wrong for the Guardian to harangue some Tory MPs for simply claiming expenses on the principle that they are wealthy or have a priviledged background. Do the Guardian refuse to pay Polly Toynbee’s expense claims on the basis of her personal wealth?

“Do the Guardian refuse to pay Polly Toynbee’s expense claims on the basis of her personal wealth?”

Has the Guardian criticised any MP for claiming something they’d agree was a legitimate expense for Toynbee?

Time for a nice big poster proclaiming ‘Benefits cheats: we’re cracking down’, illustrated by a photo of Hazel Blears or Geoff Hoon- or, indeed, James Purnell.

dammit! why didn’t I think of that before?

One of the main points about this image also is the way The Telegraph completely played down David Cameron’s claims – glossing over him while it picked at the rest of the shadow cabinet. No doubt cjcjc will be writing angry letters to them too about that bias. Or not.

http://wageconcern.com/

How the fuck can MP scum demand that the wages of low-paid workers be slashed when they continue to oil themselves at our expense?

Yes- this also takes the moral high ground from fucking filth who vilify those who are reliant on benefits due to the lack of work as a result of Thatcherite shite which, despite having been discredited, is still clung to not only by Tories but also by those utter fucking scum who dare to call themselves Labour, though they are in fact nothing of the sort.

What was so bad about Cameron’s stuff?

20.21
I’m responsible for the bad “photoshopping” linked by Ryyan
Erm…I actually used Paint, not even Photoshop… and yes, Purnell’s ecaf would have been a better idea…!

cjcjc – how does that help him do his job as an MP? Is charging us for cleaning chimneys better than claiming the cost of a kitkat or tampons – and why?

Is that it?
The chimney cleaning?
The single non-mortgage expense they could find?
Condemn away – I certainly won’t defend him on that – but how much space exactly did you expect the Telegraph to devote to it??

Compared to a front page picture of Phil Woolas, for what exactly? And a front page picture of Ben Bradshaw that wasn’t even a con! That was just because he was gay! Your bias is so obvious.

Hahaha – perhaps so – but then so is yours

(What an adult ripsote!!)

I can’t believe anyone would even attempt to play party politics on this issue. Yeah its bad when Nu Labour, sitting government do it, but equally bad when opposition parties do it. The only us and them that I see are MPs and the electorate, as they are coming across as all as bad as each other.
Turn outs at elections and interest in party politics has been waning for a while now, and these latest revelations will diminish it even more. Hopefully people will realise that it is time to vote for someone other than the main parties, and hopefully that wont mean BNP. At least Nick Griffin has now finally come out and said the BNP is only for white Anglo saxons, so maybe that will deter some poeple as they are now openly a racist party. Prior to this they were trying to fool people into believing they were for anyone ‘born’ here.

Well, Cameron has just come out with a fairly impressive list of measures (and I don’t enjoy typing that at all) – no resignations or sackings, but some very clear rules for Tory MPs to follow from now on – no flipping, no claims for maintenance or furniture or food, all claims published on the internet as they are made.

Whyohwhyohwhy couldn’t Brown have done something similar? We’re deep into bunker territory.

Oh and he also threatened Tebbit with withdrawing the whip. So it wasn’t all bad news.

“Yeah its bad when Nu Labour, sitting government do it, but equally bad when opposition parties do it.”

if you’re not being partisan you should be able to see why, when a party that claimed to be sleaze and scandal free, that has recently been targeting “benefit cheats” with increasingly authoritarian techniques, and generally every week claim to be “better” than the Tories turns out to be doing the same things, it’s WORSE for that party.

Cameron just gave a very impressive performance and dealt with questions very well. It was concise and he demonstrated firm action. No fannying about or boring monologues (Brown) or even cringing ham-acting (Blair). A PM in waiting. June 2010 can’t come soon enough.

Firm…ish anyway

Sky is now rounding the hour off with shots of Douglas Hogg’s moat – genius.

Wonder how “Newswire” will cover this tomorrow?

“Cameron admits party full of crooks” perhaps?

Alas, not that much of an exaggeration!

Again, not wishing to defend Tories at all, but is the moat thing confirmed? I thought he’d denied it.

I actually agree with those above who have said that even though the Tory abuses seem to be worse, this will impact on Labour more as the party of government. (On the doorstep I haven’t met anyone who’s said they blame one party more than another, but I think the whole thing will serve to demotivate Labour voters further, whereas Tory voters are fired up to vote generally.)

@ 38 – yeah for sure I here what you are saying about Nu Labour, and yes it is worse for the government. But when the opposition are doing it too, and don’t forget the Tories did the whole sleaze thing, and went after benefit cheats too when they were government, it just shows how rotten the whole system is.
And do you think its going to make much more difference to this government what with the state they were in prior to this? I think most would agree that the Tories are going to win the next election anyway, so I don’t think this alters things for Labour. In fact I think it may temper some of the anti government votes that the Tories may have picked up at the election. Some of those particular votes may go elswhere or be lost. Like I said before, the ‘us and them’ is more the electorate and all MPs. Newsnight was quoting a figure of 89% disatisfaction with all MPs so you can see how the general electorate is totally pissed off with all MPs.

Having said all that the axe I have to grind with Nu Labour is huge, and like Aaron posted recently, I have come to the conclussion that Nu Labour no longer reflects my own beliefs and haven’t done for a good while now. This fiasco just confirms to me that pretty much all of them are self surving money grabbing carrerists who don’t give a flying for the average man on the street – if they did their own conscience would have been pricked every time they put a claim in for dog food, or non existent mortgages, or whatever.

I’m not sure the Tory stuff is worse.
Far more senior Labourites (Darling, Blears, Hoon) have been flippers or (Smith) lied about where their main home actually is.

Aye, I’m with cjcjc, claiming for extravagant things is greedy within the rules, the cabinet approach of flipping and lying about residences is intended to get them greater allowances than is within the rules, and also in some cases to dodge taxes. That has to be a mark worse.

And before anyone misreads the above, no, the rules are not right or justifiable either, of course.

I thought figures from both parties had flipped houses? Anyway, I’ll wait until receipts are published officially rather than by the Telegraph to make a definitive judgement on which are worse. I’ll readjust what I was saying to say that even if the Tory abuses are worse, it will still impact on Labour’s vote more.

tim f – dear boy – the official publication will *exclude* the address details (as MPs themselves voted!), so without the Telegraph the flipping would never have come to light…

sorry but how does being greedy and claiming for chandellier repairs, moats, tennis courts, swimming pools, horse manure play out any better with the electorate than the flipping of houses?
When people are concerned about the safety of their jobs and unemploymnt has taken the biggest jump since the 80s, greedy claims stink as much as flipping. In fact it makes those MPs seem even more remote from the average man.
It all stinks and no party looks any better than the other.

I think the electorate was disposed to think ‘a plague on both their houses’ – but I think Cameron’s intervention today will tip things decisively in the Tories’ favour.

I hope the LibDems will be able to make some hay with their relative cleanliness – are there any suggestions that the Telegraph has any dirt on them?

Listen – I don’t hold out much hope for a Cameron administration, really – but you have to admit his performance today was not too bad.

And where is our beloved PM? In which cave is he skulking today?

The fact a Tory has a moat is damning enough whether or not he’s claiming for it and I suspect the revelation so many MP’s have swimming pools will cause more resentment than them employing people to keep them clean.

Lib Dem dirt is apparently to come tommorow, Rowan. Should be interesting to see, especially to see what the leaderships response is- certainly been weak on Renard.

I think the tories have defintly come out of this better. Regardless of whose offences were worse (though I do think labours were), the response from labour and the tories has been very different. Pay it back and then its fine is hardly likely to win any love from the public- but it is at least a response that shows the payments were wrong. The labour response of “within the rules, within the rules” was possibly the worst PR move I have ever seen, and anything they do now it catchup at best.

Plus Michael Martin’s PR coup of course: the very worst of old, unreconstructed, Scottish Labour on show there

Lord yes, what was Martin thinking? Foolish man.

Thanks, Tinter.

Well, one thing’s for sure, if Lib Dems are up for it tomorrow then they need to hope a) it’s only a handful and b) they need to go a step further than Cameron did. People want blood, and unless the Lib Dem’s have zero talent to step up to the plate it could be in their interest to give it to them.

Oh, and by the way political masterstroke by Cameron in all fairness. His party have been called the do-nothing party, with not entire truth about that statement, as the answer to every query at PMQs. I absolutely dare Brown to come out now and try that line again and come off looking good to the electorate.

This will be bad for the governing party because they are very unpopular, but it should be
much worse for the Tory politicians to do what they have done because they are the ones who are always banging on about people scrounging off the state. The something for nothing society…”I have a little list” blah ,blah blah.. Alan Duncan for example wrote a book a few years ago called Satan’s children. This was all about people living off the state, and yet now we find out that he chares the state £7000 for his garden expenses. Tosser!

But the Tories always win in these sort of scandals because they don’t believe in govt solutions, so even when the screw up, they can say “ see, we told you so, govt does not work.” But I see nothing in the media about why it is wrong ideologically for the Tories to be claiming all this stuff. Unlike when a Labour politician sends his child to a private school and the media loves to jump on about ideological hypocrisy.

As usual it is ok as long as you are a Conservative.

“Oh, and by the way political masterstroke by Cameron in all fairness. His party have been called the do-nothing party, with not entire truth about that statement, as the answer to every query at PMQs. I absolutely dare Brown to come out now and try that line again and come off looking good to the electorate.”

There goes Lee again, standing up for the Tory party or Tory trolls. He can’t help himself. The great pretend Liberal.

I think Sally makes a good point about Tories complaining about ‘scroungers’ while merrily scrounging away themselves.

But Cameron has handled this better than Brown. I wish it weren’t so, but he has. WHY did Brown not come out with something similar to Cameron’s measures last week, when Labour MPs were on the rack?

I can only imagine, as I said above, that he’s in complete political paralysis. Cameron doesn’t need to be a political genius to exploit that. (Or, possibly, Labour MPs would not submit to such measures with the discipline that Tory MPs seem to be showing?)

Cameron has the advantage that Brown mishandled the issue badly FIRST. Had Brown taken the Cameron route last week it would simply have looked like an admission of guilt. Cameron got the timing right. Better to put your hands up when your opponents are already looking like crooks.

Sally: for the record, it’s Saturn’s Children – but you point still stands (and the same goes for the Taxpayers’ Alliance trying to muscle in on the debate on C4 last night).

Shatterface – Cameron also had the advantage of the government being softened up for three days before it was his lot’s turn.

I would not be at all surprised if Cameron or some of his people have not been talking with the Tory graph about what was coming out and the way to handle it. The Torygraph put all the Labour stuff out first, and then the Tory party was able to sit back and watch how it was handled, and how angry the public was getting.

The Torygraph is just another arm off the Tory party so it will help them as much as possible. No mention in the Telegraph about how it is wrong for Right wing politicians who complain about people scrounging off the state to be claiming for all this stuff.

The answer to the second home problem would be to build a sort of political version of university halls of residence. Nice basic flats all in a block where MPS could have a bed and shelter. Most Mps would not be seen dead in them, and most Tories could afford to buy their own second home.

Absolutely agree with the halls of residence solution. It would be amusing to have our MPs writing their names on jars of instant coffee, sitting around painting their toenails together and sharing one shower and one toilet between 15.

Nice basic flats all in a block where MPS could have a bed and shelter.

That’s very similar to what they do in Sweden, Sally.

You can have a private flat if you wish, but you get very little allowance for it and you have to pay for the upkeep etc yourself.

The State owned apartments are kept in order by the State. The more I read about the Swedish system the more I like the sound of it.

I like the halls of residence idea but I suspect they’d turn it into a frat-house: beer chugging, panty raids, toga parties and putting cling-film across the toilet seat.

They all complain about Scroungers! Not just Tories, none are innocent.

It is built into our political discourse, despite there being too few jobs for the amount of people that exist, those who don’t work are still pictured as some how criminal and pathological.

The fact that they have been screwing us all slowly at the same time as this beggars belief.

Labour are clearly the worse, I expect this of the Tories, they are the party of rational self-interest after all, but still, still, I expected better of Labour. I am a Twat. They have proved me a Twat and I’m bitterly angry.

The worst this is that the hollowing out of trust in the major parties is a godsend for the BNP. I hope that Liberal Conspiracy will prove equally up to the task of savaging both parties for what they have done.

“cling-film across the toilet seat”

I know a man who can help you out with that.

How the fuck can MP scum demand that the wages of low-paid workers be slashed when they continue to oil themselves at our expense?

That could just as easily be turned around: “How the fuck can MP scum demand that taxes be raised when they continue to oil themselves at our expense?”

Or, if you prefer: “How the fuck can MP scum demand that borrowing must go up when they continue to oil themselves at our expense?”

On a related but more amusing note, I couldn’t help but be entertained by this:

http://waugh.standard.co.uk/2009/05/how-not-to-conduct-a-tv-interview-with-an-mp.html

If only more MPs could respond like that, I’d have a lot more respect for them.

A little bit of reflection may be required on this. The Telegraph are drip, drip, dripping information, but it is not clear what information they possess. They demonstrably possess scanned images of receipts, prior to redaction of home addresses, and they have published at least censored one image. The image that I have seen, representing a Tory claim (?), included gardening costs for a “helipad” of all things. They have also quoted correspondence between claimants and officials.

However they have not published a complete claim which conclusively shows that a claimant demanded payment for a controversial item. A few parliamentarians have claimed that the receipt includes items that were not on the expenses claim — eventually we will get clarification from the parliamentary authorities under the official disclosure, but perhaps the Telegraph and the claimants could help us in the interim. In this case, if you are an innocent claimant, you have nothing to lose.

I have no doubt that massive abuse has taken place. “Flipping” can only be justified if there are major changes in the life of a claimant (eg divorce). But true judgement of individuals can only be conducted with full knowledge of the claims, which we don’t have from the Telegraph reports or from the claimants. The Telegraph’s coverage deserves examination too: the reporting is not that of the (historical) Sunday Times’ Insight Team or the Guardian/Channel 4 investigations during the Major years. The nasty drips from the Telegraph are more like those from a nasty right wing blogger (you know who).

Cameron’s demand that those who have made unreasonable claims repay that money is unsatisfactory. If you get caught with your fingers in the till, repayment is a requirement, not a punishment. But as I wrote above, judgement demands full knowledge of the facts (evidence owned by claimants, who can thus accelerate the decision process), and punishment needs to be proportionate. Heads may need to roll, Mr Brown, Mr cameron and Mr Clegg. And whenever evidence of expenses abuse is exposed, not just this week.

OK Charlieman. We haven’t got the full and undisputed facts on everyone. But Margaret Moran wasn’t denying that she claimed £20,000+ for fixing dry rot on her family home – not the one in her constituency, not the one in London but the one she shares with her partner – and couldn’t seem to understand why anyone would find anything dodgy about this. Haven’t these people had the kind of life where you pay for your house repairs out of your own salary?

“That’s very similar to what they do in Sweden, Sally.

You can have a private flat if you wish, but you get very little allowance for it and you have to pay for the upkeep etc yourself.”

I like it, but MPs would not.

Thing is, it would be a very cost effective answer. One off building costs, and then they could be used for decades. MPs would not have to buy property, and so there would be no capital gains problems. If they did not like them then travel home.

Of course we all know what would happen. Tories would not be seen dead in them, (social housing) and would buy their own posh flats, either with their own money or some private corporation who wanted something in exchange, And the Labour and Liberal members would be branded by the media as scrounging off the state for taking them.

As usual, it is ok as long as you are a Tory.

Building flats for MPs that can be used again by future MPs is a good idea, cost-effective as Sally points out. Except, if I were an MP in the future, I’d be very careful about which room I took – I don’t like the idea of living in a room previously used by John Prescott, for example.

I don’t understand people getting cross for saying the tories are doing better under this. The tories ARE doing better at this. Cameron apologised for what his MP’s did: Brown eventually apologised for “the system” while labour sent people about to tell the media that is was all within the rules and that was just dandy. Furthermore, Moran and Blears remain the worst cases. They are now both paying the money back, while at the same time claiming they didn’t do anything wrong and acting like its an act of nobility.

Lib dem expenses are now out, and only one really compares. Only a couple of especially bad cases to deal with- simply using the expenses is a story in a couple of cases where it wasn’t for the other parties. The telegraph includes with most of them that they are being paid back already, so that leaves labour well behind.

The Lib Dems won’t really be able to take more of a lead on this than the tories, especially since a number of senior people are implicated (if in especially minor ways). However, it leaves labour looking very, very bad.