Gordon Brown trapped between corrupt MPs and angry soldiers

Suddenly, it all makes sense. Today’s revelations in the Telegraph setting out how what Gordon Brown called the biggest political scandal in two centuries came to light, brings it all together. It is the unified theory of British politics in 2009. It turns out the two disasters, which more than any other have sapped the life from this government, are connected. We know the truth about MPs’ expenses because someone was angry about how soldiers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan were being let down in the field. Mr Brown is now caught between a terrible pincer movement: on one side the disgrace of parliamentary expenses, on the other the horrors of the battlefield.

For those of you coming to it cold, today sees the publication of No Expenses Spared, the book detailing the inside story of how the Telegraph produced arguable the most sensational political revelation of a generation. It was written by Robet Winnett and Gordon Rayner, the senior reporters who oversaw this remarkable operation. Its central revelation is that the mole who provided us with the uncensored details of MPs’ expenses was moved to act after coming face to face with the shaming contrast between MPs feathering their nests and squaddies struggling with sub-standard equipment on the front line.

How? The mole was one of the 20-odd low-paid officials who spent weeks in as secret location transfering several million receipts for parliamentary expenses onto computers. They in turn were monitored by security guards, several of whom were serving soldiers resting between tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. They were moonlighting to raise a bit of cash to buy lightweight Kevlar body armour, boots, eye protectors and gloves, all equipment the MoD refused to provide of a superior variety, they claim, to the material provided by the MoD*. Sealed in that room together, officials and guards became increasingly angered by the lavish claims scrolling on the computer screens in front of them. At times the modd became so heated managers had to intervene. Ironically, the detail that really got them going was one I’ve mentioned before: Mr Brown’s claim for a £36 a month Sky Sports subscription.

So in a week where Mr Brown seems trapped in a 24/7 death spiral of bad news – health rumours, ministerial scandal, American snubs – he finds himself once again confronted withe the two failures that are increasingly associated with his government: expenses and military. And for the first time since the June coup attempt I begin to wonder whether he will in fact make it to May. It seems an awfully long time away.

*UPDATE: I’ve rewritten that bit because it unfairly gave the impression that the MoD does not provide such equipment to its troops, when in fact the complaint of the soldiers in this case is that the equipment they are issued with is not as good as that available elsewhere, particularly in the US army. Which is why they chose to buy substitute kit.