A cheaper and more more honest system?
Speaker Martin is already history, even though he and Westminster is rife with More important,
The measures announced last night by the Speaker are only interim and do not amount to fundamental reform (which will have to wait the publication of the Kelly report) but they are a start.
Some of the most egregious misuse of expenses -- from buying everything from flat-screen TVs to Jaffa cakes at our expense to benefiting from the now notorious practice of "flipping" to avoid capital gains tax on property sales -- are outlawed as of now.
The Kelly Commission now has some breathing space to come with a cheaper, more honest, independently-scrutinised expenses regime to replaced the current discredited one.
Party leaders are agreed on an independent commission to oversee MPs affairs, even if the details are still vague. But there is talk of radical reform well beyond the matter of expenses and the months ahead will tell us if the Great Expenses Scandal of 2009 is an 1832 moment, heralding great change.
There is talk of US-style primaries to chose candidates, giving voters the power to "recall" errant MPs and make them stand again and a whole raft of other measures to reinvigorate the ability of Parliament to hold the executive to account.
Of course it could be business as usual once a new expenses regime is in place; or we could be in for a whole new politics. The outcome will largely depend on how long and strong remains the people's clamour for change.
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