IT is amazing that despite the MPs expenses scandal, you report Chris Chope paying his wife up to £50,000 to act as his secretary, when I am sure he could find many secretaries in Christchurch to do the job for half that cost, and Tobias Ellwood claiming mortgage interest on his second home in a leafy village suburb when many of his constituents can’t afford a home at all.

I would particularly like to hear how Mr Ellwood can justify claiming this expense and whether, when he sells the house any capital gain will be repaid to the taxpayer.

I really do wonder if these people know what planet they live on.

PARRY BROOKS, Boscombe