MPs: regrets, but few apologies on expenses
Gary Gibbon
Political Editor
Nearly 150 MPs are standing down from the Commons when the election is called, many leaving in the wake of the expenses scandal. But few are offering an apology.
Three MPs are currently facing criminal charges relating to their expense claims.
But in interviews by Channel 4 News political editor Gary Gibbon, many MPs have expressed their “hurt” over the allowances scandal that rocked Westminster last summer.
A record number of MPs, nearly 150, are standing down at the forthcoming general election.
It means the Commons faces the biggest turnover since the second world war.
Senior Conservative and Labour members have expressed concern over some MPs’ mental health following the scandal. At the height of the revelations, there were warnings that one was contemplating suicide.
Some MPs argue the expenses scandal marked a fundamental misunderstanding by the public and media.
The former Conservative MP Derek Conway had to apologise for paying his sons thousands of pounds from expenses after the Commons authorities ruled there was little or no evidence they had done any work
“When more than a third of the house are employing members of their family as staff you think, ‘Well, so and so is employing four members of their family, is this the right thing to do?’
“At the time it was thought this is the way the system works,” he said.
“In retrospect was it expensive? Well for me the costs have been enormous.”
Conservative MPs Nicholas and Ann Winterton are also retiring.
Nicholas Winterton was ruled to have accidentally claimed expenses to pay rent for a flat that he had already bought outright.
But in an interview with Channel 4 News, he expressed no regrets about his claims: “In this present time of economic difficulty, crisis, people being made unemployed of course I can understand people’s concerns but they have to see what lies behind it,” he said.
“Just because some people may be envious that doesn’t mean that the system was entirely wrong.”
Channel 4 News Political editor Gary Gibbon found that despite regrets many of the MPs he spoke to had few apologies.
“For all retiring MPs, whenever they were first elected, arriving at the House of Commons boosted their status. As they leave they’re not sure whether to tell taxi drivers what they do for a living.”
Read his blog in full here.