Making a profit out of expenses isn't wrong

“There seems to be an assumption on the part of many that it is definitely wrong – and I have to say it’s a very difficult, if you like, moral issue with which to wrestle.

“I don’t find it easy to conclude one way or another whether it is morally wrong. Certainly, in the context of what I’ve tried to explain are the origins of this, I think it is difficult to conclude that it is wrong.”

That’s what Alan Duncan said when asked at the expenses inquiry if it was wrong for MPs to make a profit from selling taxpayer funded houses.

Mr Duncan previously explained that the system of allowances had originally been set up as a pay supplement for MPs.

He added that MPs had therefore entered into arrangements as part of an “overall package” which only now did they understand was “totally discredited”.

Duncan obviously doesn’t wrestle with moral issues that often if he finds this one a toughie.