Abstract
This chapter provides an insider account of the expenses scandal. The background to the scandal is explained, in terms of a culture of self-regulation, along with a description of how MPs sought to respond to the scandal when it broke. The scandal is then given context by a brief history of how the pay and expenses system for MPs had developed over time; and the confusions and behaviours that this had given rise to. Finally some of the consequences of the scandal are explored, including reforms that have enabled the House of Commons to seek to restore its reputation by demonstrating its relevance.
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Notes
I explore this theme in ‘What are MPs for?’, Political Quarterly, July 2010, republished in Doing Politics (2012). See also Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, Reviewing MPs’ Pay and Pensions: A Consultation, October 2012.
John Major, The Autobiography, London, HarperCollins, 2000, p.559.
In particular, Meg Russell, ‘“Never Allow a Crisis Go to Waste”: The Wright Committee Reforms to Strengthen the House of Commons’, Parliamentary Affairs, 64, 4, 2011, pp.612–633.
House of Commons Reform Committee, Rebuilding the House, HC 1117, November 2009, p.7.
An interesting discussion of the ‘decline’ argument is to be found in Matthew Flinders and Alexandra Kelso, ‘Mind the Gap: Political Analysis, Public Expectations and the Parliamentary Decline Thesis’, British Journal of Politics and International Relations, 13, 2011, pp.249–268.
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© 2014 Tony Wright
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Wright, T. (2014). Inside a Scandal. In: vanHeerde-Hudson, J. (eds) The Political Costs of the 2009 British MPs’ Expenses Scandal. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137034557_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137034557_3
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-44188-4
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-03455-7
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