Account Code of Conduct

There's absolute uproar here in the UK because our elected representatives in the House of Commons have, it appears, been filling their boots with our hard earned for a number of years. Journalists (those friends of the oppressed) have uncovered a culture of systemic expense account abuse.

The scandal transcends party allegiances too. They're all at it. It's the one area in which there's some political accord. I suppose we should be thankful for that at least. The problem stems from the fact that the members of parliament (MPs) policed their own expense claims. Yes, one could argue that this presents a conflict of interest, but what price hindsight like that?

The story started with a few unimportant MPs being hauled over the coals for making dubious claims. However, seasoned MP watchers pretty quickly realised this wasn't the end of it by the reaction of each of the parties. They shuffled about uneasily and refused to score a few easy points at their opponents' expense (rimshot). Consensus in the British parliament occurs very rarely - generally when we're declaring war, and we haven't done that for months. No, the only explanation was that they were all at it, and felt shamed into silence.

The level of the abuse is staggering. Consider the following:

One unnamed Lib Dem backbencher claimed expenses for having the gaps in his teeth examined by a "registered" faith healer. No treatment was prescribed, but the one-off consultation cost £204.

Another claimed £18 for a bag of conkers he apparently collected for his twelve-year-old son while one tory MP bought a £3000 trampoline, which he claimed was a valid business expense because he'd forgotten to claim for the fax machine in his constituency office, the price of which was £124.99.

And finally, one eminent former cabinet minister claimed nearly £194,000 in expenses over a fourteen month period because he "was concerned by an unpleasant smell in the street - possibly emanating from a neighbouring property".