Replace the Commons Standards Committee

So now Maria Miller has done what all ministers do once they've been found out  they're distracting from the work of the government, we turn to the all-important question of what to do about the Commons Standards Committee. They're clearly unable to do the job they're supposed to do - which is to ensure MPs behave in a way that would not get them arrested if they were claiming pot people's benefits.

Clearly we can't trust MPs to do this - which begs the question why we let them run the country, though I suppose it's better than letting them try to run a business. The whelk shop and in-brewery hospitality industries are both in much healthier places because MPs are in Parliament. But I bet the people on the Commons Standards Committee get to claim expenses for sitting on it - and who vets those when someone's been greedy perfectly reasonable claims get dragged into a media witch hunt?

So we need an independent body, which can process MPs' expenses claims critically, rigorously and above all with an eye to minimising cost to the taxpayers of the United Kingdom.

There is one candidate, now that is divesting itself of a previous Government contract, that has just the track record we need to see.

Come on Atos, this country suddenly needs you,