The Fraudsters' Parliament -5

By 25th March 2008 the battle over MPs expenses was to hot up. By that date it was heading for the High Court after the House of Commons launched a late attempt to prevent the publication of details of the claims made by MPs.
They appealed against disclosure claiming that the publication of their second homes addresses would mean that they were less likely to 'speak their minds' which would 'inhibit democratic debate'. They also claimed that disclosure of addresses would present a security risk and may produce a potential bill for the taxpayer!

We now know, of course, that several MPs were looking at a prison sentence if the details of their claims came into the public domain.

For a clear overview of the developments in this story, try Wikipaedia's information on the MPs' expenses scandal at;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MPs

In the SEARCH box type in MPs' Expenses scandal. This will get you to the section giving the overview of the UK parliameentray expenses scandal to date!

The Information Tribunal had ordered the Commons to release MPs' individual claims and said that there was no reason why their second home details should not be revealed too. The then Speaker of the House was apparently responsible for the launching the appeal against disclosure. It was to cost him his job!...... at least in the House of Commons!