MPs' Expenses

Labour's by-election victory in the the safe west London seat of Feltham and Heston coincided with some good news for a change on the subject of MPs' expenses.

Three Labour MPs' who were jailed for fiddling their expenses - David Chaytor, Eric Illsley and Elliot Morley - were ordered to pay back some of their legal costs which had up until now been picked up by the taxpayer.

The bad news is that this represents half the total - but at least they are not getting away Scot-free.

Except Jim Devine that is - the former Scottish Labour MP and Unison official - though that's only because he is already bankrupt.

No wonder the turn-out in the Feltham by-election was so poor at only 29% - people are very cynical about politics and politicians these days - and for good reason.

Of the four Labour MPs - only Jim Devine went to trial - the other three pled guilty though only at the last minute - instead of putting their hands up and saving everyone whole lot of time and money.

Another former Labour MP - Margaret Moran - is trying to escape justice by pleading that she is not fit to stand trial over yet more allegations of expenses fraud - which are even more serious than those of her former colleagues.

And of course she is being represented by another expensive QC - no doubt the best that money can buy.

Quite why these MPs were granted legal aid in the first place is a mystery - so is the fact that they are not being required to pay the full amount back.

I'll bet if they had to pay out of their own pockets to begin with - they wouldn't have run up such a huge bill which came to almost £350,000. 

I hope the courts don't swallow this nonsense - about Labour's Margaret Moran being unfit to stand trial.

Because a pound to a penny that if she manages to escape justice - she'll start making a miraculous recovery the very next day.