By Jonathan Eyal, Straits Times Europe Bureau

LONDON: - Bath plugs, horse manure fertiliser and porn movies at the taxpayer's expense: The shocking revelation that most of Britain's MPs had abused their allowances has discredited the country's entire political class.

'England is no longer the Mother of Parliaments: she has become their undertaker,' claims Mr Simon Heffer, one of Britain's most distinguished commentators.

Yet the scandal over MPs' allowances is, ultimately, about something much more fundamental: the difference between formal accountability and proper transparency. By ignoring this distinction, British politicians virtually guaranteed their humiliation.

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