No Expenses Spared
I picked up a really great book the other day - No Expenses Spared.
Which tells the incredible story of the MPs expenses scandal and how the unbelievably greedy and arrogant behaviour of 'honourable' members at the Westminster Parliament - was finally exposed by The Telegraph newspaper.
The book was written by Robert Winnet and Gordon Rayner and bills itself as - 'The inside story of thew scoop which changed to face of British politics - by the team that broke it'.
And I can tell you that - so far at least - the tale has lived up to its big billing and all of my expectations.
Certain people emerge very badly out of the whole affair - including Gordon Brown, Harriet Harman and the former Speaker of the House - the former Glasgow MP, Michael Martin.
More of them later - but if they had any shame they'd all have resigned years ago.
But for the moment here's an extract which explains the sheer greed and sense of entitlement that was all too evident among MPs at the time - of all parties it has to be said - although some of them clearly had their noses sunk much deeper into the trough - than others.
"Parliament had set up a system of expenses and allowances which enabled MPs to claim for the costs of reunning a second home. On the face of it, this seemed only reasonable: the vast majority of MPs represented constituencies that were not within easy reach of London, meaning they had to stay overnight in the capital during the months that Parliament was sitting.
But some ministers had claimed thousands of pounds in expenses to furnish and help pay for one of their properties, before arbitrarily shifting the designation of 'second home' from their London base to their constituency home so they could furnish that property too. Others appeaered to have avoided paying capital gains tax by switching the designation when they came to sell their second hime so that they could tell the taxman it was, in fact, their main home and exempt from tax.
With each passing day the reporters had discovered another scam, until they were faced with a mind-boggling array of ingenious ways in which MPs had managed to milk a publicly funded system which was so inadequately policed by civil servants that it almost seemed to have been designed to be abused."
If I had my way I'd make the book essential reading.
Because it shines a powerful light on a period when politicians were not only behaving very badly - but many of them were also doing their level best to keep the whole affair secret - completely under wraps.
By arguing that Freedom of Information should not apply to MPs or the business of the House of Commons - and the shame of it all is that some of the key players involved still portray themselves out as good socialists - and good Labour MPs.
