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MPs’ Expenses: The Legacy of a Scandal Ten Years On

Document Cited in Related
Vincent
AuthorMatthew Flinders,Alexandra Anderson
Published date01 September 2019
Date01 September 2019
DOI10.1177/2041905819871844
28 POLITICAL INSIGHT • SEPTEMBER 2019
On the morning of 8 May 2009,
as copies of The Telegraph
landed on doormats and
computer screens across
Britain, so too did a crisis that rocked the
very foundations of British parliamentary
politics and from which we are arguably
still to fully recover. The tenth anniversary
of the MPs’ expenses scandal provides a
fitting moment to reflect upon the short-,
medium- and long-term impact of this
scandal. As we shall see, the scope and
nature of the reforms that emanated
from this scandal have been far more
MPs’ Expenses: The
Legacy of a Scandal
Ten Years On
Matthew Flinders and Alexandra Anderson look back on the 2009
MPs’ expenses scandal and f‌ind that while the crisis had a far-
reaching impact on British politics, there is still a need for an honest
conversation about the price of politics and the value of democracy.
extensive than is commonly recognised
but ultimately unsuccessful in terms of
rebuilding public confidence.
The scandal
Looking back with the benefit of hindsight,
MPs’ expenses was a scandal long in the
making. The first regular salary for an MP
was introduced in 1911 (£400 per year) as
part of a transition from a firmly amateurish
endeavour towards a more professional
undertaking. The problem was that
from this point ‘the politics of MPs’ pay’
© Press Association
Political Insight SEPT2019.indd 28 01/08/2019 14:10

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