Cameron should act to prevent expenses from recontaminating the brand

Today is one of the biggest days in David Cameron’s time as Tory leader.  If yesterday’s expenses revelations were bad – and they certainly were – then today’s are probably even worse.  Despite a well stage-managed Tory response to the scandal so far, there’s a clear sense that something more needs to be done.  The Tories are now slipping in the polls just as Labour are, and that’s even before voters had heard about backbench extravagance.

But more worrying for CCHQ than short-term poll slides is the potential for this to recontaminate the brand, especially by injecting some kind of “Tory toff” poison into the political bloodstream.  Sure, the charge hasn’t stuck when Labour have deployed it.  And given the cross-party nature of the expenses scandal, I doubt they can deploy it in future.  But that doesn’t mean that “Tory toffs” can’t germinate and spread as an idea all by itself.