Martha Kearney's week

By Martha Kearney
Presenter, BBC Radio 4's World at One

MPs are wondering when the stream of revelations will end

I can't think of a story which has provoked such fury from our listeners, judging by the number of emails after the programme each day.

People out campaigning for the European and local elections report doors being slammed in their faces - and this isn't just directed at Labour and the Conservatives.

The leader of Plaid Cymru told me that his activists too were experiencing angry reactions on the campaign stump.

The strength of feeling seems to be not just about the possibility of fraud or large sums of money made out of property portfolios funded by taxpayer money but what's seen as extravagance: the moats, the helipad lawns, mole clearance and flat screen televisions.

Now I realise how easy it is for journalists to get caught up in the feeding frenzy of the immediate story but it does seem to me that there will be long, lasting damage to our political system.

For a long while people have felt alienated from their representatives. Now apathy has turned into antipathy.

Smaller parties may benefit but not through a positive swing. Rather, a low turnout will produce some unusual results.

State of despair

MPs themselves are in a state of despair. Some are privately furious at the hypocrisy of journalists who are notorious for fiddling their own expenses.

One minister recounted a meal at a party conference with eight journalists who all claimed the full cost.

So what is the route out?

Gordon Brown has faced criticism for failing to act quickly enough. The Labour backbencher John Mann, who has campaigned to reform the system, told me the prime minister needs to lead from the front and realise how urgent the problem is.

"Brown, Clegg and Cameron have all been playing for party political advantage out of this. Each one should stop that and start working together. Brown is in the best position because he is prime minister and I think he needs to be decisive. At a minimum he could change some things with his ministers and with his own party."

He also spoke for many of his colleagues when he gave his reaction to the case of Elliot Morley, who claimed £800 a month for a mortgage which doesn't exist.

"If what has been printed is true it is truly staggering," he said.

"I can only think that he got so carried away with the system and the laxness of it that he temporarily lost sense of his own marbles."

A Blairite minister was full of praise, privately, about the way that David Cameron has acted so swiftly, observing that it was just the way that Tony Blair would have behaved.

But Gordon Brown maintains that the best way forward is through systematic change, agreed by a cross-party consensus.

Pressure on Speaker

Some agreement does seem to be emerging across the benches and that is that Speaker Martin must go.

He faces criticism for resisting reform on expenses and for slapping down backbenchers in the Chamber this week.

Conservative MP Richard Shepherd told me that he had never openly criticised a Speaker before, knowing the pressure they come under, but that the current situation could not continue.

"For four years...he has been trying to suppress information that is by law required and he spent large sums of money in doing that," he said. "Then you have seen the performance in the last few days where he has turned on good solid members of parliament: David Winnick, Kate Hoey, Norman Baker etcera. This is intolerable."

How much longer can the daily revelations last?

Even if the national media runs out of steam, many MPs fear what will emerge in their local papers once all the receipts are published.

The next election is likely to see some highly volatile results.

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