PM is “very angry” at charged MPs

By Alex Smith / @alexsmith1982

The Prime Minister expressed his anger at the three MPs charged with theft by false accounting this afternoon.

He told Sky News he was “very angry about what’s happened” and that these were “very serious allegations. That’s why I have put forward proposals to reform not just the expenses system but the way that parliament worksâ€.

Elliot Morley, David Chaytor and Jim Devine are the Labour MPs under criminal investigation, along with Tory peer Lord Hanningfield.

Morley is accused of claiming £16,800 for a mortgage he’d already paid off and is standing down at the general election.

Chaytor is also reported to have claimed £13,000 for a paid off mortgage and has also already announced he will stand down.

Jim Devine is alleged to have claimed £4,000 for wiring in his London flat and shelving for his local pub. He was told by the NEC’s star chamber that he could not stand at the next election for the Party. He said he had been “hung out to dry” by Labour’s “kangaroo court”. Devine says he is distraught and that his expense claims can be explained: