Busted

As you may recall from my previous post "A Case of Privilege" there was a ruling last year in the Chaytor case on the abuse by some MPs of Parliament’s system of expenses, which surfaced spectacularly in 2009. In the latest episode in this saga at the start of this year David Chaytor, a former Labour MP, was sentenced to 18 months in prison for false accounting. On January 11th it was the turn of Eric Illsley, who kept his seat at the last general election, to appear before a judge. He pleaded guilty to fraudulently claiming £14,000 in expenses associated with a second home, and later announced his resignation from Parliament. He is likely to face jail as well. Four other politicians—two ex-MPs and two peers—have been charged with similar offences, and the police are investigating several others. Nice to see the wheels of law churning and catching a few guilty parties.