Hipocrisy and MPs expenses

The latest revelations regarding MPs expenses are dreadful.

It has been a badly kept secret for years that some MPs were milking a system designed by them for their own benefit, policed by them, and protected by them from all previous attempts to reform it.

However, I doubt that many were aware of the practice of "flipping". Or, worse, the ability to claim allowances for a designated second home yet when selling it claim to the Inland Revenue it was the primary residence thus avoiding capital gains tax (described as "near fraudulent" by former standards committee chief Sir Alistair Graham).

But the real sickener is the hipocrisy of minister after minister saying "we know the system is wrong and we must change it". The system hasn't suddenly become wrong - it has been wrong and corrupting for years during which time they and it seems many other MPs have been happy to benefit from it.

Incidentally, there has been no mention of the MPs who have never ripped the public off in this way. Dennis Skinner comes to mind. I have never agreed with his politics but I have always admired his honesty and integrity. You can check his expense claims (and those of other MPs) at http://www.theyworkforyou.com/