Sir Ian Kennedy is right to point out that MPs cannot be relied upon to adjudicate their own scandalous behaviour with their expenses. In the case of Maria Miller, her reported conduct and financial claims appall every voter and taxpayer. The niceties of whether she was stroppy during the investigation, or the fact that she said sorry, are neither here nor there.
The plain fact is that she is getting taxpayer money to fund the purchase of an asset, namely a house, from which depending on house prices, she will profit, and because of its location, profit considerably. She is only permitted to do this under crackpot rules because she has designated it as her second home, whilst claiming that a place she rents in her constituency is her main home. In the world outside, a home you own ranks above one you rent in financial terms, yet in Parliament it does not if you can get your nose deeper in the trough of taxpayer’s cash by claiming the opposite.
Cameron thinks it is all over and we should move on. We will, but his endorsement of this outrage will cost the Tories at least a million votes.
Nigel Farage cannot believe his luck.