Peter Hoskin

I'm not in the mood for making predictions, but it's worth noting some of the late momentum that's gathering behind Sir George Young, probably the Tories' first choice for the Speakership.  The PoliticsHome Index of Westminster insiders has paid him the rather backhanded compliment of being the "least unbearable candidate"; the betting markets have swung markledly in his favour; and - to top it all off - he's just delivered the most impressive of the candidates' addresses so far [watch them live here].  As Nick Robinson notes, more Labour MPs seemed to be muttering in appraval at the end of his speech than at the beginning.  Watch this space. UPDATE: The speeches are over.

Now that Fred Goodwin's poised to pay back a chunk of his pension, I'd recommend that CoffeeHousers read Jane Croft and Jean Eaglesham's blow-by-blow account of the saga in today's FT.  Crucially, it answers the question of why Goodwin has waited until now to make the decision: "His decision finally to do so came several days after the legal review concluded that there was no conduct on Sir Fred’s part that would justify reducing the pension. Insiders say the timing is no coincidence. Sir Fred was awaiting that exoneration before agreeing voluntarily to reduce his pension to ensure the gesture could not be misinterpreted as an admission of wrongdoing on his part. Now both RBS and Sir Fred believe the matter has been settled.

Look at pretty much any newsapaper front cover this morning, and you'll see the word "blackout," along with blocks of black ink meant to represent those censored expense claims.  Flick through the pages inside, and the tone of the coverage is - rightly - vituperative, with the consensus being that yesterday's expenses release is little more than an insult to voters.  The Sun's headline pretty much sums it up: "What a bunch of blankers".  Yep, just when MPs thought it couldn't get any worse - it has. On the question of whether MPs can restore the public's faith in Parliament, the Indy's Andrew Grice writes that, "Probably it have gone too far now ... there is no turning the clock back."  After yesterday, it's even harder to disagree.

I've just got around to reading Alistair Darling's Mansion House speech from last night, and I'd recommend that CoffeeHousers flick through it too.  It's a strange mix which takes some dechipering.  At first glance, there's plenty of talk about "investment"; the doubling, tripling and quadrupling of budgets; and how "cutting spending across the board would choke off the recovery".  But the overall emphasis - which, in turn, has become the emphasis of the newspaper coverage - is on bringing the public finances back into shape, and on lowering the debt burden. It's a speech which No.

And so here it is: the list of Members' allowances for 2004-08, uploaded - after months of delay and prevarication - onto the Parliament website earlier this morning.  You can hunt down any MP from those years - apart from some, like Blair and Boris, who have left the House - and download pdf copies of their expense claims.  All very open at first glance, except... well, these are censored versions of the claim forms.  MPs have been able to sift through them with a marker-pen, and take out addresses, unsuccessful claims and other details which have been crucial to the Daily Telegraph investigation.  As Paul Waugh points out over at his blog, the result is pages and pages of black redactions.