UK Needs to Clean Up House of Commons

On two occasions in the past 48 hours, Gordon Brown has accurately described the behaviour of Hazel Blears, who failed to pay capital gains tax on her taxpayer-funded property deals, as "unacceptable". Yet he appears to be accepting it. Yesterday, his spokesman said the Communities Secretary was doing a "good job" and Miss Blears herself seems to think it is business as usual because "the Prime Minister said very clearly, I acted within the rules". This is where the House of Commons' efforts to restore its tarnished reputation are stalling. The public has been appalled by the scale of the greed and venality revealed by this newspaper over the past fortnight. They want the culprits brought to book. Yet only a handful of the most egregious offenders are so far experiencing any disciplinary action at all. Instead, we are being presented with a typical Westminster fix – a flurry of initiatives, including, naturally, a new quango. The Parliamentary Standards Authority will, it is proposed, try to make MPs behave themselves properly. Such a move would be an abject admission by the people we elect to run this country that they cannot even run their own affairs.