The expenses scandal has delighted the Tories — it keeps Brown in power

James Forsyth reviews the week in Politics

To step into the House of Commons nowadays is like gatecrashing a wake. In happier days, its corridors were full of MPs quietly plotting. Now, the scene is members being offered a supportive squeeze of the shoulder by a colleague. The ones being consoled are those who have been ‘Legged’ — to use a phrase — ordered to repay substantial sums of money by Sir Thomas Legg.