A few thoughts about (Un)Employment Minister Tony McNulty, whose filthy fingers were found fiddling with taxpayers' money over the weekend. There are two issues here... one of legality, the other of ethics. Was taking £60,000 to spend on Mummy and Daddy's house in his Harrow constituency, a few minutes from his own W6 home, legal? Possibly... under self-imposed rules that favour the greedy. (But possibly not... according to Hammersmith MP Greg Hands who has lodged a complaint, pointing out that McNulty didn't regularly stay overnight in the property.) More importantly, though, was it ethical? There are several clues here. One is that McNulty admits to having felt "some discomfort" about claiming the money, although clearly not enough. There's also the fact that he stopped claiming in January, the very month Jacqui Smith was outed as a sleazy hypocrite, for taking £116,000 to pay the mortgage on her family home, while redefining chutzpah by insisting she actually "lived" in a room in her sister's gaff. Clearly... and I mean clearly... his actions have been unethical. If he had any sense of shame, whatsoever, he'd resign. If Brown - son of a preacher man - had any integrity, whatsoever, he'd fire him.

And now... introducing Dawn Butler - working hard for all communities in Brent South - and, according to this, claiming almost all her £23,000 annual allowance to help pay for a property there, while at the same time owning a family home a 24 minute Tube ride away in Stratford. Dawn Butler has voted very strongly on a smoking ban and strongly for introducing ID cards. She's never voted on a transparent Parliament. She believes in knowing about us, even if we don't know about her. But she is concerned about first-time buyers in her constituency:

Does my right hon. Friend agree that investment in housing and social housing is important to helping people get on to the housing ladder? That is especially important in my constituency, where average earnings are around £20,000.

A little less, then, than the amount she takes from them to pay for an investment property she doesn't need.

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