Gordon Brown has finally withdrawn the whip from Morley, Chaytor and Devine who are facing charges under the Theft Act following abuses of the parliamentary expenses system.

The contrast between David Cameron and Gordon Brown could not be starker.

Within minutes of the Director of Public Prosecutions, Keir Starmer, announcing that Lord Hanningfield was also facing charges for his dodgy expenses, Conservative High Command stripped him of the party whip. Brown on the other hand needed the entire weekend to come to the conclusion that Labour’s Three Amigos deserved the same treatment.

Labour officials may insist that they were dealing with the situation. But for the prime minister to act so slowly on an issue which, lets face it, rightly angers the puplic simply allowed the impression to be created that he was dithering and did not know what to do.