Double Act

Tory MP Andrew MacKay has 'resigned' his post as parliamentary adviser to David Cameron after it came to light that he had claimed the full second home allowance for their London home while his wife Julie Kirkbride, MP for Bromsgrove, had claimed the full second home allowance for their constituency home.

As we've come to expect, MacKay is defending this arrangement claiming that it had been agreed with the Fees Office, but has agreed to appear before David Cameron's scrutiny panel to discuss how much of this allowance should be paid back.

With such a blatant case of fraud - the second to be revealed in less than 24 hours - David Cameron should be pressing MacKay to stand down instead of simply resigning as an 'adviser' and agreeing to discuss whether he should repay some of the money.

More importantly, with such pitifully weak responses from both sides of the house, this may well have effectively handed control of the Commons to the first party to promise criminal proceedings against any MP who has defrauded the system as blatantly as Morley and MacKay have done.