Vince Cable himself has today hit out at the potential effect of the Telegraph's sting operation on the relationship between MPs and constituents (or not constituents, as the suspicion may now often be). MPs' surgeries are the embodiment of a key element of British democracy - the close relationship between representative and the represented, a relationship founded on core principles of openness and accountability.
Less than 8 months after Stephen Timms was stabbed by a woman who wanted to kill him for voting for the Iraq war, MPs have yet more reason to believe that they can no longer trust, in a personal encounter, those whom they serve and upon whose support their career depends.
Mr Cable may be seen to be speaking through a mouthful of sour grapes, but his choice of his constituency newspaper to defend the rights and responsibilities of local MPs is no accident - the response is aimed at the media and society at large, but it is addressed to his constituents.
I have witnessed first-hand the importance to MPs of the relationship to local people - in most cases at least, it is genuinely about more than simply keeping them onside. Serving the public is a primary motivation for many, and any attempt to jeopardise their freedom to fulfil this - all in the name of cheap political points, a turn in the national spotlight and a short-lived boost in sales - may well hit home hard in the days, weeks and months to come.
I haven't even touched on the ethics of fabricating child-benefit cases. But it is a comparison with Mr Timms's experience that puts all of this into the sharpest perspective of all.
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