The Staggers: Expenses Scandal

On the day that the former Labour MP Jim Devine was found guilty on two counts of false accounting, here is the car-crash interview in which he hilariously attempted to justify fraud as "moving money around".

In the interview, with Channel 4 News's Krishnan Guru-Murthy, a tired and emotional Devine admitted submitting false invoices for stationery in order to pay his ... read more

We were expecting at least three parliamentarians to be charged over their expenses this morning and in the event four have been. Three Labour MPs -- David Chaytor, Jim Devine, Elliot Morley -- and the Tory peer Lord Hanningfield have been charged with false accounting.

Chaytor, Devine and Morley were all banned from seeking re-election by Labour's "star chamber". Hanningfield has resigned his position as a frontbench business spokesman in ... read more

Nick Clegg's intervention in today's Daily Telegraph is a welcome one. It's hard to disagree with him when he argues: "Everyone is talking about whether it is fair to impose retrospective limits -- but actually, the biggest test for Legg is whether he will take on the biggest abusers of the expenses regime or let them off the hook."

I've always thought a clearer distinction needs to be made between ... read more

I am instinctively against the form of retrospective justice being applied to MPs' expenses. Sir Thomas Legg's review seems to have pandered to what Harriet Harman chillingly described as "the court of public opinion". (The court may be with the left on bank bonuses but it also supports capital punishment. I'd rather a precedent wasn't set.) Britain should be governed by the rule of law, not by panic ... read more