Yeah right. An alternative explanation for the lack of Labour MPs who have done the decent thing and resigned is that they are even more lacking in honour and shame than the Conservatives. Your cack-handed attempts at spin are extraordinarily lame.

Good table.

Brown pulled off a blinder when he helped create the expenses rules. He has managed to prove that self regulation does not work.

The Tory Mps who believe in this nonsense just could not help themselves. They were attracted to all this free money like a magnet to metal. They knew it was wrong , they knew it went against their whole political ideology , but they could not resist. Pulled like a traction beam towards all that state money.

No more lectures about people scrounging off the state or little lists now please Mr Tory party.

“No more lectures about people scrounging off the state or little lists now please Mr Tory party.”

Except from Philip Hollobone.

Personally I rather liked the Daily Mash’s take on events:

http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/politics/politics-headlines/top-tory-claims-for-drawbridge-wax-200905121754/

Julian Cook, from Hatfield, said: “I’m relieved to see that after all these years the Tories can still put on a show. It is nothing less than a masterclass in taking the absolute piss.

“You’ve got these petty, lower-middle class Labour MPs watching their wide-screen television sets and putting plastic covers on their three-piece suites, but it takes the solid brass nuts of an old Tory to claim for moat-widening.”

@Sally

”Brown pulled off a blinder when he helped create the expenses rules. ”

Surely even the most partisan of party supporters don’t believe this?

And why isn’t Chaytor on that list yet?

Come on Sunny, tables are dull – let’s have a swingometer!

“Come on Sunny, tables are dull – let’s have a swingometer!”

Careful, Some Tories will claim for one.

I do find it interesting that Tory Mps keep blaming the system, yet they don’t seem to understand that this is about personal responsibility, something Tories like to bang on about in others. If the system was crap they should not have used it. No one forced them to claim all this money for bogus things. Many Tory Mps are very wealthy and don’t need the money, yet they could not help themselves.

If you want a good example of the folly of self regulation (another right wing idiocy) then you only have to look at what has happened to Bankers and politicians in the last few years.

And why isn’t Chaytor on that list yet?

I’ve added other people who have had some action taken against them.

Feel free to suggest more names, I’m still playing catch-up.

Sally has a point: Tories are all about personal responsibility but the left has traditionally looked to the system to explain away bad behaviour.

Clearly the fact that more Tories have resigned has nothing to do with the fact that Cameron has shown that he isn’t the Ditherer that Brown is.

No; of course not. LOL

But not to worry – the electorate will take care of the Labour troughers at the GE.

I also believe (correct me if I’m wrong) that the Telegraph’s data is quite hard to sift through, so that the above list only covers those whose expenses have been easy enough to comb through, with c. 350 MPs so far unexamined. Odds are that the above list will get much longer, and that’s just for the expenses abuses.

There are still two big, and as yet fairly unexamined, areas where the fall-out may be considerable:
a) The employment from the public purse of relatives, spouses etc and how legitimate their work is.
b) The range of outside employment, especially the revolving door (y’know, someone is a minister in a certain dept, and pops up later advising a private company that operates in that very field…Blunkett, and Hewitt are blatant examples, but many Tories too). The public mood has shifted, and I don’t think that such cosy arrangements will be sustainable any more, thank goodness.

Sally @3: “He has managed to prove that self regulation does not work.”

Err, no. Self regulation of MPs’ expense claims does not work when the claims are secret. Self regulation of MPs’ expense claims does work when the claims are public and a receipt is required for every cost. That is why some MPs are paying back money to the Fees Office at the moment. Unfortunately, a few MPs are paying back money for legitimate claims alongside the thieves.

I don’t understand why anyone is happy about how these MPs have stood down.

The Tories appear to have stood down because they had a strong conversation with Cameron or his representatives. They stood down from orders from the top.

Labour are hardly getting into gear, but some local parties are demanding participation. The party (English or GB?) has appointed a Star Chamber to review potential offenders, apparently, and the Labour Party has not contradicted press reports regarding that description.

I’m lazy so I will simply quote the Wikipedia definition of Star Chamber: “The court was set up to ensure the fair enforcement of laws against prominent people, those so powerful that ordinary courts could never convict them of their crimes. Court sessions were held in secret, with no indictments, no right of appeal, no juries, and no witnesses. Evidence was presented in writing. Over time it evolved into a political weapon and has become a symbol of the misuse and abuse of power by the English monarchy and courts.”

Nobody has been sacked yet by Star Chamber. But barristers are still rubbing their hands.

I won’t comment on the LibDems because I normally vote for them.

In the new world where central parties can’t be trusted, all of the discipline is being discussed by central parties. That is not enough. All local parties need to be in control of their candidate selection process for the next general election, even if they pick a thief.

Interesting latest score. Tories shoot into an early lead. Plenty of time yet for Labour to get back into it, and they have the firepower to do so.

Still, it’s good for a laugh. How the Tories chortled when those cabinet member expenses were published right at the beginning of this scandal! More Labour sleaze they thought. Little did they know.

Make no mistake, the last two weeks has been very damaging to the very fragile new Tory brand. The mask has well and truly slipped.

The electorate rightly thinks a pox on all your houses, and if this episode increases the chances of a hung parliament at next year’s GE, then that is to the good. There is no appetite for unfettered Tory rule out there.

“Err, no. Self regulation of MPs’ expense claims does not work when the claims are secret. Self regulation of MPs’ expense claims does work when the claims are public and a receipt is required for every cost.”

How stupid to you have to be to write this crap.

If the MPS expenses are public then it is not self regulation. Better trolls please.

Most of the scalps so far have been Conservative, thanks to their headline-grabbing gaffes.

Ahahahahahahahaahahaha!!!!! Yeah, right.

Here’s a simple analogy, that even those who might have swallowed that tosh can understand:

Gordon needs a poo, but Dave’s already had one.

Can’t make it any clearer…

Here’s a simple analogy, that even those who might have swallowed that tosh can understand:

CF – I meant that as a statement of fact, not a partisan point. I’m not really enamoured by the New Labour government and frankly would like to see many more heads role. It’s just a statement of fact that most of the Tories who have gone have had big PR disasters surrounding them (moat cleaning, duck pond, jealous of my big house, angry constituents etc). That’s all I meant.

Tory MP Bill Cash was paying his daughter’s rent with Parliamentary expenses.

BILL CASH! I mean, you couldn’t make that up could you?

If Armando Ianucci came up with that name his script editor would be asking him to come up with something more subtle.

Sometimes I think god’s taking the piss.

Yeah, it looks really bad for the Tories when they’ve kicked out every single MP who has been caught out making indefensible claims while Gordon just keeps all the liars and theives in his cabinet. Really bad.

Fortunately, the rest of the electorate isn’t as stupid as you.

Small point of information: Eliott Morley was suspended by the PLP (before Chaytor was).

Sally @15: “If the MPS expenses are public then it is not self regulation. Better trolls please.”

Not a particularly temperate response, but I’ll try to clarify my argument.

Currently, MPs can claim generous allowances for household items and maintenance. Upper limits are applied by the Fees Office for some items: white electrical goods and more arbitrarily for furniture. The Fees Office do not send an inspector round to ensure that goods are in use at the address for which they are claimed but, contrary to popular opinion, those who have abused the system are a minority. Thus, even when allowances/expenses were assumed to be private by MPs, the majority self-regulated and made reasonable claims.

The fact that expense claims are to become public does not remove the requirement for self regulation. The two processes — self regulation and public disclosure — are linked but not conditional. An MP can self regulate expenses without the need for disclosure, and disclosure will not identify all future abuses.

I’m confused about Shahid Malik. Is it that he stood down from his ministerial position? Should this be more explicit to contrast with people standing down from parliament? Otherwise it’s a little confusing.

Are you going to keep updating this?

It seems to me you are all having a dig at the amatures. They are just copying the most successfull self interest group of greedy, self seeking, unelected so and so’s- Members of The House of Lords. The ordinary MP looks accross and see a bunch of people who command large sums of money to represent their own interests. Ensure the legal profession, medical profession, financial, banking are not scruitinised with anything like the same justo as you and I, the lowly serfs.
Just how many of our privileged ex members have been awarded great rewards from industry (in the form of consultancies, seat on the board, etc) at the end of their political career.
You might find these are “spare change”, compared to the less visible activities.
Step 1. Close the House of Lords;
Step 2. Bring in independent auditors to assess claims, benifits;
Step 3. Bring prosicuitions against those who have become corrupt- Resigning is NOT enough

Good luck with that- the Sir’s would just vote against it lol

I guess not.