The parliamentary, self-monitoring expense claim system seems to have encouraged MPs over the years to submit all manner of claims on a system with questionable financial controls. There is also the moral question of claiming for something »within the rules » as a result of e.g. second-home »flipping » together with the associated capital gains tax avoidance, or for what members of the public might view as normally paid for through one »s own income. MPs have been elected to a public position of trust by voters themselves now suffering the effects of the crisis in the government finances and feeling let down by their elected representatives and the perceived excesses of the financial industry.