Looking back over the past week’s news cycle, I reckon it’s the first one for some time that Labour have come out on top over the Conservatives. That’s partly down to Jacqui Smith’s rallying cry to the 42-day detention rebels, which – as the papers have it – could well have averted a disaster for Gordon Brown. But it’s mostly due to that old problem: politicians and their expenses.
The bad news for the Tories started with the finding that the Conservative MEP Giles Chichester had disgracefully pumped £thousands of EU money into a family company. Of course, Chichester stepped down swiftly enough, and many Tories must have hoped that, with that, the story could be swept under the carpet.
But now it’s emerged that Caroline Spelman paid a nanny through her parliamentary allowance. When I first heard the news, I didn’t think too much of it.
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