This is why the estimable Sir Christopher is wrong to argue that only scrutiny of expenses by an independent authority outside parliament will rebuild trust. For surely, if parliament is treated like any other public body that needs monitoring by a quango, it has ceased to be sovereign in even the remotest sense? Such a step would not convince the public that anything of importance had changed; only that MPs are so corrupt that they require a watchdog beyond the one they are already supposed to have – us, the electorate.