Chief Whip Nick Brown seeks ‘show trials’ for fiddling Labour MPs

Nick Brown, the Government Chief Whip and Gordon Brown's pal, will go to Labour's National Executive this morning to seek powers to carry out show trials against the worst offenders in the expenses scandal.

He wants to initiate the de-selection of three Labour MPs for blatantly breaking the rules, rather than merely abusing the expenses system - David Chaytor, Ben Chapman and Elliot Morley. Each of them has been found to have made 'phantom' mortgage interest claims.

The threat of de-selection could also be hanging over Shahid Malik, who stood down last week as Justice Minister while he is being investigated for accepting a discount on his rent from his landlord, thus breaking the ministerial code.

These men are being hung out to dry by Gordon Brown to show that he can match David Cameron, the Tory leader, in the race of retribution. However, they are minor players, about whom the public knows little. The real culprits look like getting off Scot-free.

They include Hazel Blears who 'flipped' her second home designation to avoid paying capital gains tax when she sold her London flat to a fellow Labour peer, making a tidy profit of £45,000. She has since paid £13,000 to the taxman, but Brown has said that paying back the money is not enough.

The trouble is the 'flippers' in his Government also include his own Chancellor, Alistair Darling, and the 'golden couple' Ed Balls and Yvette Cooper. So what's Brown going to do? Answer - a big nothing.

And what about the chubby man seeking these powers of de-selection? Nick Brown, it is revealed in the Daily Telegraph's latest instalment today, charged £18,000 to the taxpayer over four years for food without receipts. He didn't break the rules, but he showed as much greed as the three MPs in line for de-selection.

David Cameron has already declared open day on his own cheating MPs by inviting their constituency parties to de-select whoever they think has brought the Conservative Party into disrepute. That must surely include the husband-and-wife team Julie Kirkbride and Andrew MacKay who managed to get both the properties they share designated as second homes.

But what about Michael Gove, the shadow schools secretary, who claimed £7,000 to furnish his London home before flipping his designated second home to a house in his constituency, Surrey Heath? He has repaid the money - but is that enough?

Summary justice for the scapegoats may show leadership, but it won't remove the stench. Cameron is right in one thing - the public want a clear-out with a general election and they want it now. ·