As mooted in the weekend press, the Daily Telegraph has now turned its fire upon the Tories. The gravest pattern of behaviour concentrates upon the practice of flipping, shifting a designated property to claim on expenses. This has led to some of the usual and not-so-usual suspects being fingered: Francis Maude, Andrew Lansley, Michael Gove, Alan Duncan and, surprisingly, Chris Grayling.
David Cameron's response has gone further than Labour's mealy-mouthed defence by shaping a mea culpa and saying sorry:
Last night Mr Cameron, the Conservative leader, apologised for the way in which the expenses system had been used by many MPs. “We have to acknowledge just how bad this situation is and just how angry the public are,” he said. “We have to start by saying that the system we had and used was wrong and that we are sorry about that.”
Mr Cameron has pledged to take firm action against Conservative MPs found to have exploited the system. It was not clear, however, whether he was preparing to act over the allegations against some of his most senior colleagues.....
Liam Fox, the shadow defence secretary, has condemned the “flipping” of the designation of second homes by ministers.
“The idea was always that ministers were deemed to have their primary residence in London when they were members of the government,” he said. He called for a “hard and fast rule” about what constitutes an MP’s primary home.
Mr Cameron said last week that claims by Conservative MPs that were outside the rules would be “looked at”. “They just have to explain themselves,” he said. “That’s what all my MPs are going to have to do, that’s what I will have to do and I think that’s what the public deserve – they are angry about it and they want it sorted out.”
One should question David Cameron's response in one respect: does he go far enough in disciplining members of his Shadow Cabinet or political party. The leader certainly anticipates the public mood better than Brown, but there is a similar message to the Labour party: the rules were set, the system was wrong, but MPs will only be disciplined if they broke those rules.
The Tories are in a favourable position. Fewer members of the Shadow Cabinet are guilty of breaking the rules, and Cameron has a record of discipline in the most egregious cases. Furthermore, none of the public faces are implicated. Still, Cameron could usefully demote or remove some of those found guily.
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