"It's within the rules"

The excuse we've heard time and again from MPs during the current scandal is that they did nothing that broke the rules governing allowances and expenses. The MPs rarely mention that it was they that made their own rules. But that aside, are claims for gardening, cleaning swimming pools, maintaining helipads and dredging moats etc REALLY within the rules? Here is what "The Green Book" - the official guide to MPs' allowances - says:

Section 1: Principles governing Members’ allowances

The principles are:

• Claims should be above reproach and must reflect actual usage of the resources being claimed.
  
• Claims must only be made for expenditure that it was necessary for a Member to incur to ensure that he or she could properly perform his or her parliamentary duties.
  
• Allowances are reimbursed only for the purpose of a Member carrying out his or her parliamentary duties. Claims cannot relate to party political activity of any sort, nor must any claim provide a benefit to a party political organisation.
  
• It is not permissible for a Member to claim under any parliamentary allowance for anything that the Member is claiming from any other source.
  
• Members must ensure that claims do not give rise to, or give the appearance of giving rise to, an improper personal financial benefit to themselves or anyone else.
  
• Members are committed to openness about what expenditure has been incurred and for what purposes.
  
• Individual Members take personal responsibility for all expenses incurred, for making claims and for keeping records, even if the administration of claims is delegated by them to others.
  
• The requirement of ensuring value for money is central in claiming for accommodation, goods or services – Members should avoid purchases which could be seen as extravagant or luxurious.
  
• Claims must be supported by documentary evidence, except where the House has agreed that such evidence is not necessary.
  

I'll leave you to make your own mind up.