Expenses: the shocking denouement

More than a million items of MPs' expense claims have finally been published by the House of Commons authorities after a year-long Freedom of Information battle to force them into the daylight and more than a month after the Daily Telegraph began publishing leaked details.

And the most shocking revelation is that the official list fails to reveal the most serious abuses of the system which has plunged Westminster into its greatest crisis for generations.

Thanks to a deal which has allowed MPs to 'redact' - that's 'censor' in normal language - key parts of the documents, the practice of  'flipping' second homes to maximise expenses and/or to avoid capital gains tax on sales would never have been exposed.

So Kitty Ussher, who was forced to quit as Treasury minister last night, would probably still be in her job; details of her attempt to avoid nearly £17,000 in capital gains tax by re-classifying her second home for a single month would never have been revealed.

It is likely Hazel Blears would also have been able to cover up her habit of not paying capital gains tax on home sales and would not now be facing moves in her constituency to de-select her as an MP at the next election.

Similarly, dubious expense claims that were rejected by the Commons fees office are not included in the official posting. This means that those MPs who tried to claim for the cost of laying Remembrance Day wreaths would not have been exposed, had the Telegraph not obtained leaked computer files containing all the uncensored information.

The same is true of a raft of other offences that would never have seen the light of day, despite a fierce battle under the Freedom of Information Act which saw MPs trying to exempt themselves from the laws they introduced to affect other institutions and individuals.

MPs persistently claimed certain details, particularly their home addresses, should not be made public for security reasons. A lengthy battle finally saw the High Court ruling the details had to be published.

It has taken them a year to actually do it and, in the mean time, far more damaging details have been released by the Telegraph.

The irony for the MPs is that, had they agreed to be more open from the start, they might have been able to avoid the most damaging, career-ending revelations. As it is, the tidal wave of revelations has swept many from their jobs and even their seats in the Commons - and there could still be more resignations to come. ·