Skipper

Speaker Martin could soon be waving goodbye rather than just 'hi'. He, more than anyone has expressed the 'we've done nothing wrong' attitude so prevalent in the Westminster village until the Telegraph's revelations electrified the nation. The Guardian editorial weighs in with a 'Time to go' piece of advice. It can only be a matter of time but he may get to survive until the next election depending on how the party struggle to urge the cleansing of the stables evolves I suspect also that Andrew Walker, head of the Parliamentary Fees Office, might have to pay with his job for being too easy going and overly respectful of elected members.

Elliot Morley's 'mistake' lay in carrying on receiving £800 a month for mortgage interest on his Scunthorpe house, when the mortgage had already been paid. He has repaid the money but I would think there is a prima facie case of something against the law there notwithstanding.

Ann Widdicombe has noted that the parties are engaged in a 'bidding war' to out 'tough' each other on how to respond. And it has to be said Cameron has been winning this hands down. Brown, as always, has been disastrously leaden footed in his responses and has allowed Dave to dance around him with specific plans and to play the sweeping, unanswerable trump card of the 'payback' cheques for his offenders. Though I note it's in some cases the tabloid headline horse manure or lightbulbs sums which are being repaid while the tidy little profits from 'flipping' are nestling, secure, for the time being in the bank accounts of the MPs concerned.

There can be no doubt newspaper which has scooped their rivals bigtime on this is the Daily Telegraph. While the rest of Fleet St hesitated, they plunged in, bought the probably stolen material and have been on trebles all around ever since. I noticed a brilliant little feature they have added to their coverage: videos showing MPs apologising or otherwise commenting or explaining their views on the expenses issue. Top form stuff.