Flamboyantly-named IPSA chief Marcial Boo is plotting to shroud MPs’ expenses claims in secrecy once again. Boo has told John Bercow that politicians’ claims for small stationery items should be kept hidden from the public because the delicate flowers are facing ridicule in the press. In the interests of openness, accountability and transparency – principles IPSA clearly have no interest in – Guido is publishing some recent claims that they want to keep secret:

• David Cameron – bulldog clip, 7p
• Austin Mitchell – pencil sharpener, 2p
• Cheryl Gillan – calender, 4p
• Jeremy Hunt – paper clips, 5p
• Emma Lewell Buck – pencil sharpener, 5p
• Liz Kendall – pencil sharpener, 7p
• Harriet Harman – drawing pins, 10p
• Ken Clarke – ruler, 11p
• Andrew Mitchell – Tipp-ex, 13p
• Sarah Teather – staples, 17p
• Chi Onwurah – mouse mat, 18p
• Alan Johnson – fold back clips, 34p
• Vince Cable – scissors, 43p
• Nadhim Zahawi – hole punch, 53p
• Alistair Darling – glue stick, 64p
• Vera Baird – dustpan, 69p
• Gordon Brown – calculator, £1

It goes without saying IPSA should be acting in the interests of the taxpayer and not simply sparing MPs’ blushes, but there is also a wider point here. Jim Devine submitted false invoices for printing costs, an expenses claim he was eventually jailed for. Keeping this seemingly trivial claim secret might have meant he got away with it. That alone shows why every expenses claim, however small, must face the disinfecting glare of sunlight…