Tonight:
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It had been well trailed, but today's announcement by the Crown Prosecution Service that three Labour MPs and one Tory peer will face criminal charges was still shocking.
The expenses scandal has destroyed ministerial careers and caused vast embarrassment. The revelation yesterday by Sir Thomas Legg that 360 MPs had made wrongful claims was bad enough; the news today that almost 50 have made separate repayments takes the total to almost two-thirds of the House.
But if those charged are convicted - all deny the charges - it will confirm the existence of another level of dishonesty in this scandal.
Criticisms remain of the speed and thoroughness of the reforms now being made. What is most dispiriting is that we have to trust the House of Commons to reform itself, when the evidence continues to mount of just how flagrant and widespread the abuses were.
MPs and the House authorities did not willingly give up the information, despite the fact that public money was at stake. Freedom of Information requests and the Information Commissoner finally forced the former Speaker, Michael Martin, to yield up the House's dirty secrets.
Whatever the outcome of today's charges, there is likely to be one of the biggest turnovers of MPs in decades at the next election: largely as a result of the scandal, many are standing down. We can only hope that the fresh intake bring a new sense of humility and a greater sensitivity to the public mood than those responsible for this most disastrous malfunction of our democratic process.
Mr Brown at bay
Our interview today with Gordon Brown reveals a politician far from beaten. Certainly, Mr Brown knows that he is a tight spot: he would scarcely be turning for help to Tony Blair, as he reveals to us today, were not Labour straining every sinew to confound predictions.
For most of last year, Mr Brown endured terrible headlines, losing the post-Lehman poll boost of late 2008 and buffeted by the expenses scandal. But now the polls have turned and it is the Tories who are nervous.
Labour has had a good start to the year. Not only has the Tory lead dropped to seven per cent in recent polls, but a series of recent Conservative policy announcements have gone badly wrong.
This week there was the row over the Tories using violent crime statistics misleadingly, as well as their flip-flopping over when and how much they would start to cut public spending.
It is possible to exaggerate the differences between David Cameron and shadow chancellor George Osborne, but the mixed messages reflect real uncertainty in the Tory camp. And the recent announcement over marriage was a fiasco. This week party grandee Lord Tebbit warned they need to get a grip.
The polls are still against Labour. Mr Brown remains personally unpopular with voters. But opponents should remember that he got where he is through intelligence, ruthless political instinct and sheer force of will.
In him and in Mr Blair and Lord Mandelson, Labour has formidable hitters at the next election. The Tories still have the fight of their lives ahead.
London film magic
The Evening Standard British Film Awards next week promise a glittering celebration of talent.
Some of the biggest names in cinema are contesting the awards, from Anne-Marie Duff to Ricky Gervais.
But those attending will bring glamour too, including Guy Ritchie and, presenting the best film award, Eva Green.
In fact it will be a celebration fit for Europe's most exciting film city: London.
Reader views (6)
I agree with the opinions already expressed
- Ghengis Junior, Fishguard Wales, 06/02/2010 16:39
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6th Feb 2010, Time 16:30 -- Repeat submission.
I remain uninformed of any cohesive argument for there being any significant difference between obtaining reimbursement for an enforced overnight stay from the primary home and obtaining reimbursement for expenses incurred by a second home specific to Parliamentary duties. In the first instance, it is false to claim overnight expense when it has not been necessary, and in the second instance any claim made is false when the actual status of first and second homes is misrepresented. I abhor the media’s adoption of the word “flipping” this was the perpetrators parliamentary code word prior to its general disclosure, It’s decoded and actual meaning is “misrepresentation”
- Ghengis Junior, Fishguard Wales, 06/02/2010 16:29
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I remain uninformed of any cohesive argument for there being any significant difference between obtaining reimbursement for an enforced overnight stay from the primary home and obtaining reimbursement for expenses incurred by a second home specific to Parliamentary duties. In the first instance, it is false to claim overnight expense when it has not been necessary, and in the second instance any claim made is false when the actual status of first and second homes is misrepresented. I abhor the media’s adoption of the word “flipping” this was the perpetrators parliamentary code word prior to its general disclosure, It’s decoded and actual meaning is “misrepresentation”
- Ghengis Junior, Fishguard Wales, 06/02/2010 13:46
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So a few wil be charged and the rest of the thieving pack can go on much as before. It is a scandal that others have escaped criminal action and if Brown, Cameron and Clegg think that this is the end of the matter it shows, once more, how detached from reality that they are. The public are still furious with parliamentarians and huge damage has been done to the trust that should exist between voters and legislators. This is a disaster for public ethics and honour but a major, and profitable, triumph for far too many members of both Houses. The CPS has done as little as possible and should be ashamed of itself.
- Miguelm, West London, UK, 05/02/2010 16:01
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I agree with Neil645 and why look only at 2004 and after - do we beleive they were honest in 2000 -2004???
- Very Angry At Mp'S Expenses, Home Counties, 05/02/2010 15:54
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Just four prosecutions! What about the other 400-odd of these fiddling cretins? These people, for larger or smaller amounts, deliberately and knowingly defrauded the taxpayer, but just four scapegoats are prosecuted. What a cover-up and a shameful scandal. It is noticeable that MPs don't allow Benefit cheats the option of paying back money and "lets forget it" - it's straight to court for them, so it should be for several hundred MPs.
- Neil645, Gloucestershire, England., 05/02/2010 13:45
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