UK politicians expenses claims © Matt Buck Hack cartoons for Tribune

There is another furore about the expenses of the UKs professional politicians – and this one features the Home Secretary Jacqui Smith. As is traditional, the particulars of the matter have now been outsourced to an independent review (name that peer to run it) and then kicked hard into the long grass.

This week also saw the start of the formal withdrawal of British troops from Iraq after the 2003 invasion and subsequent occupation. There is not much clarity about the national expenses claim resulting from this although Military Families Against the War have been asking.

UPDATED: 14th May 2009. If you have arrived here after The Daily Telegraph’s revelations about the MPs allowances scandal you can find further content here, here and here.