AS Parliament plunges deeper and deeper into the big black hole of its expenses system, the figurehead of the House of Commons might have been expected to direct his anger at those shameless chancers who have brought politics into unprecedented disrepute.

But, oh no, the Westminster fiddlers were not the target of Speaker Michael Martin yesterday.

Instead, he poured scorn on those MPs who had questioned why the police were called in to investigate the leaking of the damning information to The Daily Telegraph.

Mr Martin trotted out the age-old argument about the danger that MPs’ confidential data might pose a security risk – the one our politicians have repeatedly used in a desperate attempt to avoid their expenses perks being rumbled.

But with The Daily Telegraph giving an assurance that “exceptional steps” have been taken to avoid any security implications, the need to get the details of MPs’ claims into the public domain heavily outweigh Mr Martin’s concerns.

Even more public money will now be wasted looking for the whistleblower at a time when the police surely have better things to do in protecting the Capital.

Complete transparency is the only way forward if we are to avoid the unfairness of every MP being tarred with the same brush.

Those who are confident that they have nothing to hide should, therefore, follow the example of Durham North member Kevan Jones and allow their detailed expenses to be placed under the public spotlight without delay.