You have to admire the audacity

It has been revealed Tony McNulty, Employment Minister in Gordon Brown's government, has claimed £60,000 in expenses for staying at his parents' home in his Harrow constituency, which is just 11 miles from Westminister and a few miles from his first home.

Not a good look, though it is not clear that he has actually broken any rules - just engaged in a mammoth exercise in piss-taking.

This, from the Indie, made me chortle because of its sheer, unashamed, unapologetic arrogance:

Since the 1970s MPs' pay has been held down to avoid public criticism and they have been encouraged – they say – to use their generous allowances. But many MPs now believe that anger over expenses means they should "bite the bullet" and opt for a one-off pay hike and a more transparent expenses system. (1)

Get that? This latest exposure of their grasping and grafting means they need to get a pay rise, not that the need to start being a bit honest. It is up to us, the taxpayers, to pay them enough so that they do not feel the need to resort to bilking us, not up to them to behave to any sane standard of decency and honesty.

1 - 'Minister faces inquiry into second home cash claims,' by Michael Savage, published in The Independent, 24th of March, 2009. (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/minister-faces-inquiry-into-second-home-cash-claims-1652589.html)