No Expenses Spared

by Robert Winnett, Gordon Rayner

It was the biggest political scandal for a generation.The Speaker of the House and 5 members of the Cabinet resigned.The Legg enquiry ordered MPs to pay back over £1 million of wrongly claimed expenses. 381 MPs will be forced to pay back an average £3,000. 3 MPs and 1 Lord face criminal charges.No Expenses Spared is the fascinating account of the journalistic scoop that changed the face of British politics. It tells the story of one whistleblower and a small team of dedicated journalists who worked in secret to pore through more than a million expenses documents, braved the threat of legal action and political pressure to reveal the truth.

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction

414 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 27, 2009

Reviews

[Jonny Brick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Back when it was good, The Telegraph could change public life. Although politics was not reformed (because their star columnist had the last laugh), it did stop abuse of expenses and showed the power of proper journalism, which the authors are great at describing. What a shame Chris Evans, the News Editor at the time, is such a(n alleged) bully.

[Becky · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rereading this has brought up strong memories of those events a decade ago when the expenses revelations shocked and infuriated the nation. Sometimes I wonder how much has changed and that it resulted in Bercow ending up as speaker did not do us many favours.

[Steve Gill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Makes you realise that money is the root of all evil.
Made me mad.

[Gary · Rating 5 out of 5]

In 2009 British politics was to be shook to its very core when a scandal so big it brought the British political elite to their knees, forcing the resignation of the speaker of the House of Commons for the first time in over 300 years.In the midst of the biggest recession in a generation, MP's were exposed to be fiddling their expenses, scamming millions out of the public purse for their own personal profit, getting the tax payer to foot the bill for thousands of pounds on doing up their homes, gardening 'costs' running into tens of thousands, then avoiding paying tax on the sale of their 'main' home paid for by the tax payer.

No Expenses Spared is the story of the unfolding of these historic events, brought to you from "the bunker" by the journalists themselves. Told right from the beginning when a freedom of information request by an American journalist starts a train of events that ultimately leads to Robert Winnett and Gordon Rayner getting hold of the the incriminating disk, through the checking and gradually realizing what they have, through to the expose, through to the ramifications that have so far come about.

The prose is very engaging making you feel like you are right there with them as events unfold, and any wannabe Journalist will feel the excitement and tension as if they were actually in on it.

I couldn't put this book down and this is definitely a must read for anyone who has any interest in British politics.

[John Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

As all the dodgy claims have already been exposed, MP's shamed and careers terminated there's little to learn about the expense claims themselves. However, I found it interesting how a Newspaper handles a scoop to maximise their sales and prevent competitors hijacking their stories. The Book is very self congratulatory with constant references to their investigative work for a scoop which, basically, somebody knocked on the front door with. It's also quite irritating how Winnett and Rayner write about themselves in the third person. The authors repeatedly mention their political impartiality when publishing the expense claims but it becomes apparent they were far more chummy and accommodating with the Tories. A good read though and in fairness well handled by the Telegraph who, at least, published every MP's claims whilst other papers wanted to cherry pick the Baddies.

[Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mind blowing the level of arrogance that UK MPs had with their expenses and this is from someone used to sleaze in politics.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love the story behind the story element- as well as the backlash against The Telegraph itself

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating and accessibly written. I read it in a day!