MEPs must first put their own house in order

The European Parliament has been doing its best over the last seven days to damp down reaction to reports – carried in this newspaper among others – of a critical internal audit report into the use and abuse of expenses paid to MEPs for the employment of their office staff. As we report elsewhere in this edition, MEPs of various political allegiances have rounded on the Liberal Democrat MEP Chris Davies, who spoke out about a report from the Parliament's internal audit service.