Nothing’s changed

It’s a pity the Spectator has already run a political scandals supplement: the Telegraph’s latest scoop is a sordid classic. The Telegraph allege that Tory MP David Curry has claimed £28,078 on a second home from which his wife had banned from using after Curry used it as a rendezvous for assignations with a local school mistress. Curry is standing down at the next election and could make a packet if he sells the taxpayer funded property.

There is a further complication. Until last night, Curry was the chairman of the parliamentary standards and privileges committee, the authority that decides how errant MPs will be punished. The committee was rightly criticised for its very lax disciplining of Jacqui Smith and Tony McNulty. Curry’s appointment as chairman four months and subsequent fall from grace augments the sense that the clean-up operation is a joke and that this parliament is resolute in resisting reform.