After weeks of hearing what a rotten lot of expense-grasping rascals MPs are, the general public can finally have a look for themselves today after their claims were published officially online. Just tap in your postcode at a site such as this one to get the name of your MP and then look them up on this parliament.co.uk page.
The information is quite heavily redacted but a quick look through the page on my MP, Labour's Diane Abbott, of Hackney North and Stoke Newington, reveals her penchant for Twinings tea (three packets for £11.97 on one receipt) – which, compared with a £1,600 duck island, looks like relatively small beer.
My blood is ready to boil with fury but an initial scan through her claims appears to reveal only humdrum things such as 300 business cards (green) at £219 and the regular hire of a conference room at £35 an hour – and not even the hint of any moat cleaning.
It appears that from what has been released this morning that the long-standing east London MP will not be forced to issue a public apology like some of her disgraced colleagues. However, officials' liberal use of black marker pen means it is difficult to be sure.
Many of the documents look like top-secret CIA files, with whole sections blacked out. In Abbott's case, hundreds of pounds have been paid out but we do not know why. On one form she claimed £50 for "chauffeur services" but all other details are blanked out. On another, underneath the word "Invoice", is the phrase "To what shall we liken the Kingdom of God? Or with what parable shall we picture it". The majority of the rest of the document is blanked out, leaving us in the dark about what expenses Abbott incurred – and why we are paying.
The hidden items are likely to be mundane and the expenses we can see appear to consist of nothing more damning than pens, printing and paper cups. So my initial verdict is that I'd give Abbott a pass.
But is your MP claiming for more explosive items? Click here to find out.
