Chris Hawes at The Wardman Wire has written an excellent piece today on constitutional reform arguing against some of the fads of the moment, like proportional representation and fixed-term parliaments. I’ve already written about fixed terms; and I […]

One of the strangest aspects of the MP’s expenses scandal has been the way politicians have tried to move public discussion on to questions of sweeping constitutional reform. It seems to me it was the greed of MPs themselves – […]

The Speaker’s statement today was an embarrassing affair: he read an apology to the public over MPs’ expenses, saying words that seemed not to come from his heart. He then said he’d act by summoning yet another meeting, weeks if […]

Charon interviewed me today about the MPs’ offences scandal – including potential criminal liability under the Fraud Act 2006 – and about the Speaker’s decision to call in the police, not to investigate MPs’ claims but astonishingly to investigate […]

This morning the Telegraph reports on an expenses claim by Elliot Morley for mortgage interest he never owed; and for the first time, this report mentions potential offences, with a quote from solicitor Steven Barker, quite […]

I’m not blogging much at the moment: I’m sorry, teaching commitments are keeping me away. But I must comment on an apsect of the MPs’ expenses revelations carried by the Telegraph today.

BBC News is reporting that

The Equality Bill published yesterday does quite a lot of things: it aims to replace existing discrimination law on sex, race, age and so on, and update it, harmonising the protection given to each “protected characteristic”, which in many […]

I’ve consistently argued that ministers, not the police, should be the focus of scrutiny in the Greengate/Galleygate affair. The initial controversy was about the arrest of Damian Green, and search of his office: that’s of course the first any of […]

The more you reflect on Greengate/Galleygate, the more serious it seems. The charge laid by Damian Green is that ministers have acted in an authoritarian manner; understandably from his point of view he sees that as illustrating this government’s instincts.

So now we know that no charges will be brought against either Damian Green or Christopher Galley. Here is the CPS statement explaining its decision.

The real point about this scandal is not the conduct of the police […]