The expenses scandal: The people’s revenge or the death of democracy?

As more and more MPs are exposed for having used the House of Commons expenses system to buy everything from plasma TVs to horse manure, the argument put forward by journalists and various officials is that the Commons has been too free to set its own agenda. A significant degree of public outrage has followed in the wake of the Telegraph’s exposures. The response from senior figures in Parliament has been to apologise and emphasise the need for reform. But does ‘reform’ mean more democracy or more power for unelected elements such as the police, quangos and the monarchy? What does the scandal tell us about the state of Britain’s public institutions and the character of the elite? And what can explain the force of the popular response?