McNulty can't talk

Employment Minister Tony McNulty has kept a low profile since the investigation into his parliamentary expenses began.

So it almost felt rude not to go along to a jobs stats briefing yesterday to try and squeeze in a question about the issue.

As we all know, he claimed £60,000 of taxpayers’ cash to pay the mortgage on a house his mum and dad were living in.

I asked him what he thought of the PM’s new system under which – as an outer London MP – he wouldn’t have been able to make his claims.

He said he’d been calling for such a change for a long time and endorsed it.

Eh? So he was calling for rule changes, presumably because he thought something was wrong with them, while at the same time making the most of those rules to claim tons of money?

After I pressed the point he replied that the investigation prevented him discussing specifics – to be expected I guess.

David Cameron and Nick Clegg rejected the PM’s expenses changes yesterday anyway – so we may be back to waiting for the Kelly review.