British crooks in office are more interesting than the home grown version

[richlevy]

I have been following the UK Parliament expenses scandal. I must say that the level of fraud and abuse is interesting even by US standards.

The latest and funniest twist is this.

A British newspaper got full financial records and began divulging the worst offenses. This has been going on for a month.

The British government finally responded by publicly releasing those same expense reports - heavily redacted. This means that expense reports which have already been made public by a newspaper are officially being released, with blacked out portions, in some cases entire pages. In addition, some of the worst offenders expenses were never released.

Not only is this closing the barn door after the horses are gone, it's painting a giant bullseye on the barn.

For example, here is a comparison between redacted and full versions.

What was revealed …

• Gordon Brown, who repaid £801.86 to the Commons authorities, and David Cameron, who repaid £947, are among 184 MPs to make repayments.

• Brown has treated mice infestations at his flat in London and his Scottish home.

• Tony Blair claimed £6,990 for roof repairs on 25 June 2007 – two days before he stepped down as prime minister and ceased to be an MP. He also claimed for six months of council tax, a month before leaving office.

• Alex Salmond, the SNP Scottish first minister, and Elfyn Llwyd, the Plaid Cymru MP, submitted what appear to be identical bills for £14,100 for legal advice on impeaching Tony Blair.

• Liam Fox, shadow defence secretary, ran up a £5,137.70 mobile phone bill between April 2007 and January 2008.

• Hugo Swire, ex-shadow cabinet minister, charged £5 for a Glynde-bourne festival opera booklet.

… and what wasn't

• Douglas Hogg, Conservative MP for Sleaford and North Hykeham, charged £2,115 to have the moat cleared at his Lincolnshire estate and claimed bills for a "mole man".

• Sir Peter Viggers, Tory MP for Gosport, claimed £1,645 for a floating "duck island" in the garden of his Hampshire home as part of £32,000 of gardening expenses over three years.

• Jacqui Smith, the former home secretary, claimed £10 for two adult films which were accessed by her husband at her constituency home in Redditch.

• Labour MPs Elliot Morley and David Chaytor claimed for mortgages that had already been paid off. All addresses in yesterday's publication were blacked out, which prevented cross-referencing against the Land Registry.

BTW, one big difference between Parliament and US Congress is that you won't find 'moat cleaning' on an expense report.

BTW, you could make a case for Mr. Smith. If his wife is up late working on Parliament business, it seems only fair that Parliament pay a remedy. This is known in legal circles as 'relief', which seems appropriate.