Letters From A Tory Daily views on British politics and the Conservative Party from a centre-right thinker who writes letters on his blog to politicians, journalists and many others.

Dear Michael Martin,

First and foremost I would like to say congratulations for remaining in your job for so long, even though you lost the confidence of MPs and the public many months ago.  Derek Conway only lasted a few days but through some clever wheeling-and-dealing you have escaped with your role as Speaker in tact.  Now, to add to our humiliation, you of all people will publish recommendations for improving the MP expenses system that you and your wife have benefited from on many occasions, much to the dismay of your peers and the electorate.

Apparently you have rejected the idea of a massive daily allowance or a lump sum payment of up to £20,000 to replace the second homes allowance.  Well done, congratulations for spotting the absurdity of those suggestions.  Sadly, it seems that a ‘top-up payment’ of around £24,000 a year to replace their second homes allowance is still very much a possibility.  Presumably this would mean that every MP living outside London would have the option of being handed £24,000 without needing to justify their claim, cleverly circumventing the need to submit receipts – which is standard practice at the moment, even though MPs like Blair, Prescott, Brown and many others have taken the p*** with their claims in the past and somehow got away with it.  The strange thing is that I was under the impression (goodness knows where I got it from) that your proposals were supposed to help restore credibility and integrity to MP expenses.  Was I wrong?  Am I being too naive in supposing that changes to the expenses system should be made in the interests of the public rather than the self-interest of MPs like yourself?

I doubt that your recommendations will linger in the media after they are reported in tomorrow’s papers.  The public have grown weary of your lies and deception, meaning that these stories just don’t have as much impact anymore, which is terribly sad.  Until someone turns round to MPs and lays down the law, I accept that you will continue to screw as much money out of the taxpayer as you possibly can before you are finally booted out of your job.  That day cannot come soon enough.

Yours sincerely,

A.Tory

UPDATE: Pathetic, just pathetic.  The recommendation is that MPs get £20,000 to spend on rent, mortgage interest, repairs (though not home improvements), cleaning and maintenance for their second home AND they will get a £30 bonus for every day they spend in Parliament (no receipt required for what they spend it on, naturally).  Nick Robinson HAS MORE INFO on the new expenses rules, if you can stomach reading them.