Caroline Spelman expenses scandal

It’s a Friday night and I have a legion of baby boomers to entertain (as one increasingly does these days), so I can’t be expected to watch Newsnight. Thankfully, the estimable Sunny Hundal – who seemingly has his finger against every raw conservative nerve – has watched the programme and brings this delightful little scoop:

Have heard news that a senior member of the Tory party, someone in the shadow cabinet, has a funding scandal to be exposed on Newsnight tonight. On in two minutes.

Update 10:31pm: Its Caroline Spelman.

The charge is that between May 1997 and 1998, she paid her nanny, xxxx xxxxx*, from her parliamentary staffing allowance.

Caroline Spelman did not respond to Newsnight.

Well, the Tories are the party of family values; it’s only fair that their MPs ask the state to foot the bill, right?

*I’ve deleted the name of the nanny because, well, she’s just a nanny, and unless she’s revealed as a major source for the report, she doesn’t deserve her name being scattered across the country.