MPs may face criminal investigation

Following today's publication of MPs' expenses - albeit in heavily rededacted form - Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson has suggested that there is a chance of some MPs and peers being called upon to answer questions related to possible criminal activity.

Detectives and Crown Prosecution Service officers are known to be examining details of claims submitted by a small number of MPs and in some cases this may bring about allegations of fraud. It is believed that those known to have made doubtable claims involving mortgage payments - such as Elliot Morley who put irregularities down to oversight and maintains his innocence - have been under suspicion for some time, though police have made it clear that there will be no prosecution unless deliberate wrong-doing can be proved.

Those bars could be in front of Elliot Morley before too long.

According to The Guardian, Manzila Pola Uddin - the Bangladeshi-born Baroness of Bethnal Green - could also face questions after it was alleged that she declared an uninhabited flat in Maidstone to be her main residence - an action that, if true, would have made her eligible to claim expenses to cover the costs of her London home.

David Chaytor, the MP for Lancashire's Bury North, claims that like Mr. Morley he had not realised his mortgage had been paid off and as a result continued claiming. Though he was subsequently suspended from the parliamentary Labour party and Mr. Morley resigned from the Cabinet, both could face police enquiries. Likewise Jim Devine, who has been deselected following allegations that he submitted a false receipt - including fake name, address and VAT number of a mysterious electrician who has since died, thus very conveniently allowing Mr. Devine to escape having to produce him to prove he actually ever existed - to enable himself to claim £2157 for some rewiring work may also have to give some answers.

If one or more MPs are imprisoned as a result of their dodgy dealings, who fancies putting in an application for a Visiting Order? Acid Rabbi will even buy you a pint afterwards. E-mail us if you're up for it!