Expenses scandal is here to stay, say media and insiders |

Tuesday 13th October 2009 | 17:30

Expenses scandal is here to stay, say media and insiders

A huge majority of the Phi100 panel, including almost all the political media panellists, expect the rejuvenated scandal over MPs’ expenses to stay in the headlines for a long time to come

Bored of the expenses scandal? You'll have to put up with it, say the political media and other member of the Phi100 panel.

93% of the panel – made up of MPs, think tank leaders and the journalists that write the political pages - agree that the story will be around for at least a month. The figure rises to 96% of the political journalists who responded to the survey.

Just 7% of panellists believe the media will tire of the story.

To the Election

One political journalist celebrated it as a “perfect tabloid political story”, backed up by a left-aligned think tank leader, who said it was “much juicier and easier to deal with than big city scandals”.

Numerous panellists predicted the story will run for much longer than a month, and some say it won’t go away until the election. “It's here to stay right through the election’, said one Conservative MP. ‘It will be the major issue in a number of constituencies’.

“It is not going to go away this side of the election, but not headline everyday like this summer”, said one media commentator.

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