As three MPs face charges as a result of the expenses scandal, it is worth reflecting that the circumstances which allowed these offences to happen have ended.

Gone is the do-what-you-like atmosphere which allowed MPs, including myself, to claim for things which the public found unreasonable. The word ‘allowance’ has been removed from our vocabulary, every MP has had their second home spending for the last five years audited and Parliament has taken away from MPs the right to set our own rules.

What was happening before cannot now happen again. Future MPs are going to have to account for every penny of their office and second home spending, to an independent body. Exactly how far those new rules will go is being decided by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority right now. Furniture is no longer allowed under today’s rules; mortgage interest will not be allowed under the future rules.

Let me be clear about my record: I was guided by the law, the rules of Parliament, professional advice and my conscience at all times. The auditors under Sir Thomas Legg disallowed three claims that I had made:

- the inadvertent claiming of 12 months (instead of 10) Council Tax on my London flat for two years, £412 (revealed and paid back last May)

- a piece of furniture, allowed in 2005 but deemed to have been extravagant in 2009, £389 (revealed last October)

- a miscalculation of mortgage interest over five years (confirmed in last week’s Legg report) of net £390.95.

All of these sums have now been paid back; nothing is outstanding.

We must move quickly to put these issues behind us. I say to my colleagues who are facing charges, do not prolong this. Parliamentary privilege should not protect MPs who commit potentially criminal acts; it exists to protect what we say in discharging our public duties.