Quis custodiet ipsos custodes

So who will watch over the "independent" body who will monitor MP's expenses? The Latin question has raised the problem over the centuries, and it is still relevant.

We are told now that the body will be appointed by Parliament to work independently of Parliament.

It could be that an independent and reforming new Speaker will propose members. But practice with all quangos is that the government will offer a list (of friends/hacks) to parliament, as there is no other leader, - even the relevant select committee has a built in majority of government members, and will have, if it doesn't already have, a government member as chairman.

Will the government allow the body to consult opposition parties behind the government's back? Will the independent body report first to the government rather than parliament, and will the government have opportunity to influence any report?

The case of Elizabeth Filkin suggests that the majority party, claiming the power to dismiss or to re-appoint the body, will exercise influence on what it says or does, via its whips.

It ought to be the whole of Parliament which oversees the body, but....

Ah well, there's always the Telegraph!