Their reward...

for not rocking the boat by making further protests about the Legg findings, is for MPs to get a straight salary rise.

The story has been circulating that G.Brown intends to finance an across the board salary increase for all MPs of £3,000, by cutting ministerial salaries by £20,000. (The ministers will apparently get the £3,000 on that part which is an MP's salary.) They will not get the full £3,000, of course, because it will be subject to income tax and N.I., which their expenses were not.

So G.Brown has calculated, and he does very little without calculating the political advantage, that he must head off further MP protest over Legg, even if it infuriates voters.

He may be right, and it may be that voter anger will subside by the time of the election, but Legg and police reports will dribble out over the next few weeks. By next May there may not be a general revulsion against sitting MPs, but there is already a groundswell in certain seats, which Esther Ranzen among others is attempting to ride.