Unless Eric Illsley is sentenced to more than twelve months in jail he can technically remain an MP and we would be paying his salary while he is in jail. The Labour Party have already kicked him out, but that is not good enough. Illsley has admitted stealing from the very people he was elected to defend and represent. If he has any semblance of public duty left he should take the Chiltern Hundreds job and trigger a by-election immediately.

Once again Labour’s judgement is called into question. How did they even let this man stand as one of their candidates at the last election? At least Milband didn’t put him on the front-bench like Phil Woolas, but that didn’t stop the photo-ops still displayed proudly on the “independent” MP’s website:

If Illsley won’t walk, the House must move immediately to expel him.