So, the expenses scandal may finally be coming towards a close. We can only hope so. The leaks emanating from the Kelly report suggest that MPs will only be able to claim for rent, not mortgages, on their second homes. This seems reasonable. Less sensible, however, is the proposal that MPs be banned from employing members of their family.
Apart from the obvious potential for legal challenges to this proposal, it’s manifestly unfair and ridiculous in equal measure. In the first place, it’s not clear that MPs should be singled out in this fashion. Secondly, it creates the absurd situation in which it would, presumably, be OK for an MP to employ his mistress but decidedly not OK for him to employ his wife. Then, if he decided, as has been known to happen, to divorce Mrs MP and marry his mistress he would, presumably, need to sack her as soon as the happy couple return from their honeymoon.
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