From behind the pay-wall, the seasoned Sunday Times stingers have blown the doors off three cases of old-fashioned bribery in the European Parliament. Despite scalping one MEP from Austria, there has been very little follow-up. The ease at which these Members were willing to table amendments for cash and the channels by which they were paid, point to systematic and wide-spread corruption. As Dan Hannan said, Labour’s own Cash for Amendments scandal pales in comparison and this blows the duck house out of the water. However there is the inevitable “it’s just Europe” dearth of coverage.

Closer to home we learn that MPs here are to have IPSA’s rules relaxed. Claiming for second homes again if you a London MP? Why not! Also Illsley could be out in eight weeks and guess what, government plans to freeze MPs pay is facing a backbench rebellion. All very new politics.

Tomorrow disgraced Rotherham MP Denis MacShane is hosting a conference about how the Labour Party can get out of opposition. Ticket sales are obviously very low as a last minute desperate PR job is currently going on and the requirement to pay in advance has been lifted. MacShane is using his constituency office to organise the event and all profits are being donated to the Rotherham Labour Party. Yet MacShane has been given the boot as a Labour MP.

His taxpayer funded office being used for blatant party political uses:

Why are the likes of Polly Toynbee, David Walker, Jessica Asato, Tristum Hunt and a host of other Labour figures willing to turn a blind eye to the fact MacShane is currently under police investigation for corruption and help raise funds for him? If they are wondering why Labour were booted out of office, perhaps some soul-searching would be a good place to start.

Denis MacShane found no sympathy from the Labour hierarchy when it was announced that the Met was investigating his rather controversial expenses claims. He instantly had the whip removed and was hung out to dry. However that was the last we heard…

Since then he has slowly crept back closer and closer to the central hub of Labour MPs in the House and was sitting comfortably this afternoon with Chuka Umunna, Chris Byrant and Rachel Reeves. If he has been suspended, why do his former colleagues at best turn a blind eye, or at worst keep him in the fold despite the fact he has disgraced himself? It’s been over five months since his file was passed to the CPS…

Will Labour still be so welcoming if he goes to trial?

Tory whip Bill Wiggin is the first MP to be investigated for a second time by the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner. His moral compass aside, it’s a well know fact that he gets a little confused when it comes to addresses – he got his main home mixed up for twenty-three months on the trot don’t forget. Despite his poor geographical skills, should the taxpayer really be picking up the bill for his Sat Nav, especially given Wiggin’s already shaky record with cars?

Despite claiming his Fulham town house was not his Main Home for expenses purposes, Wiggin claimed for a parking permit there, which he would only qualify for with the council for if it was his primary residence. Wiggin claimed this permit was solely for Parliamentary purposes, are we therefore meant to believe that this SatNav was for the same reasons? Does Wiggin really not know the way of the short trip down the river from Parsons Green to Westminster?

Does he really not know that his constituency is basically up the M40 and across a bit?

The second Tory peer charged with fiddling his expenses is due to enter his plea this morning at the Old Bailey. Paul White, the one time leader of Essex County Council said the claims for overnight stays in London, despite written evidence that he had travelled back to Essex, were in “good faith”. Like his fellow Tory Lord Taylor, Hanningfield  is expected to plead not guilty, so we will have to see what twelve honest men say about that…

UPDATE: Hanningfield was a no show, no plea entered. Trial in May at Southwark. Oink oink…

The BBC has finally picked up on the investigation launched in Tory Whip Bill Wiggin and the curiously bung-like £5,000 payment made to his local Conservative Association from his expenses. It seems he is continuing his quest to become the Tory answer to Jim “admit your guilt on telly” Devine:

“Mr Wiggin told BBC News his local Conservative Association hired the room in Leominster and he had claimed for the expense on its behalf. He said he did not “pay any money or get any money” himself.”

A classic deflecting tactic – deny something of which you haven’t been accused. No one has suggested Wiggin personal benefited this time round, rather he put in a false invoice claiming to be for room hire at over six hundred pounds an hour, and when he was challenged backtracking and stating it was all for unverifiable and vague “work”. Sounds a lot like mystery shelving…

Ever since he walked in May, a David Laws imminent return story has been the mark of a slow news day, however this one is different – there is actually some detail.

The Mail and the Indy have been tipped off to Nick Clegg’s private talks with David Laws about the possibility of a return to a new “Mr Fix-It” position in the Cabinet Office, which would avoid the need for a reshuffle.

A fixer is much needed, but it’s almost as if the coalition big-wigs have decided he is innocent before the Standards and Privileges Committee has made a determination. What about due process? A cynic might think there is an establishment stitch-up going on to clear someone who paid his boyfriend £40,000 of taxpayers’ money, other MPs have gone to jail for less.  Laws has been under investigation for nearly ten months. If it was all so innocuous, why has the inquiry taken so long?

UPDATE: Latest betting on the return of Laws here.

Bill Wiggin’s feline survival skills are being pushed to the absolute limit. The Office of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards has confirmed that he has opened an inquiry in to the Tory whip and a dodgy £5,000 invoice paid to his local Conservative Association. Wiggin might come to regret his rather rushed confession that the invoice may have said the £5,000 was for absurdly expensive room hire, but was in fact for a whole swathe of other work. In other words, a false invoice. Where are the records of this other work? The receipts? The nod from the fees office? John Lyon has his work cut out with this one…

See also :

• Cameron: Wiggin Has To Go
• Piggin’ Wiggin’s Permit Porkie Pie
• Beginnin’ Diggin’ into Piggin’ Wiggin
• Piggy Wiggin and Khan’s Moranic Receipts
• Wrigglin’ Piggin’ Wiggin
• Piggin’ Wiggin Caught Fibbin’
• Diggin’ Into Wiggin’s Piggin (Again)
• Piggin Wiggin Diggin’ a Devine Grave
• Piggin’ Wiggin Reported

There was much speculation about a scandal breaking last month that involved LibDem President Tim Farron. Guido thinks he might have uncovered it. After being outed on EyeSpyMP as a first class train traveller last night, Farron confessed his sins:

@eyespymp not very often, and only if I can get a super cheap advance ticket —
Tim Farron (@timfarron) March 06, 2011

First Class travel ban? What ban…

Were you expecting something else?

UPDATE: As a commenter “Tax Payer” points out:

“He’s claimed £6,513 so far this year for rail travel, which is one of the highest. Looks like he doesn’t manage to get a ‘super cheap’ ticket very often.”

More work to do to protect the minimum wage from Tories. http://bit.ly/i0zZA4 Thanks to @JohnPrescott for re-opening #wageconcern campaign.—
  (@alexsmith1982) March 04, 2011

Miliband’s one man internet rebuttal team used Prescott earlier in an attempt to shut down any debate about the minimum wage. Unfortunate timing for them though as this morning we learn that Prezza is earning nearly £800 per day in Lords expenses. The £10,016 claimed seems extortionate given he clocked in for just thirteen working days. Around £121.50 a day, was for ‘overnight subsistence’ while a further £1,125 went on ‘day subsistence’, covering food and travel. The rest was on staff.

If Prezza is so concerned about the minimum wage, perhaps he would like to lead from the front and take a pay cut?

While we are on hypocrisy and twitter. Guido had to love this message from some anoymous Labour hack:

Drinking champagne at the Ken Livingstone Gala Dinner at the Globe. Second evening in a row in Ed Miliband's presence. #fb—
Bex Bailey (@BexBailey6) March 03, 2011

Champaign and socalism? There should be a phrase for that…