Derek Conway

As Guido says, there is absolutely no way that Derek Conway should be let off without having to repay the £40,000 he paid his son out of his staff allowance. The practice of employing family members as 'researchers' and 'secretaries' is so completely open to abuse as it is, that there have to be serious measures taken when someone is caught red-handed like this.

I suspect that there is quite a lot of this going on the Commons - the expense allowances are treated as extra income as it is. Whether this is done perfectly legally, like Ed Balls and Yvette Cooper each claiming their extra housing allowance, or not as is the case here, and as was alleged againt Iain Duncan Smith, there is a rather unhealthy attitude towards them.