Hello, you're about to listen to old newscast. This is our new style of podcast where we take a big moment from recent history and give it the newscast treatment, almost as if it's happening in the news now.

And then we do a second episode where we look at the ripples that came out of that moment and what the consequences were further down the line.

And part one of each series

will be available on Saturdays wherever you get your podcasts, with part two available on Sundays,

only on BBC Sounds.

BBC Sounds, music, radio podcasts.

Hello, it's another old newscast where we take what we do every day on newscast, but apply it to a day from the recent past.

And the day this time is the 8th of May 2009, when the Daily Telegraph published the first in a long series of stories about MP's expenses.

And this was based on a disc of leaked information

that they'd obtained. It catalyzed what became known as the expenses scandal, which commentators

now view as one of the most damaging events in history for British politics, with long,

lasting after effects, which we will discuss. And as we'll find out,

it was a long, complicated series of events that led to that day the 8th of May 2009.

Newscast. Newscast from the BBC. Do you know what it's about? Jealousy? I've got a very,

very large house. He claimed £2,000 for a duck island.

I want to apologise on behalf of all parties.

I am angry about what has happened.

It is out of order.

If they're making these mistakes for their own money, what the hell are they doing with our country?

Hello, it's Adam in the studio.

And here with me is Chris Hope, who's currently political editor at GB News, but in 2009 was... Whilst Whitehall editor at The Telegraph. Ah, which is a quite important part of this story. Quite. Please, well, wow, she's chipped in already. Welcome back to the BBC. Joe Coburn, formerly of politics live. Hello. Hello. Royalty. Oh, it's lovely to be back. And also welcome back to the mid-naughties. Because we're going to go back to 2009. Gosh, was that the heyday? The mid-noughties? Well, actually, it's the end of the naughties, I suppose. Mid-to-late naughties. It was. So before we dive into the day itself, which, when we've picked the 8th of May 2009, it was actually a long period we're talking about here. But the pivotal day was the 8th of May because that's the first kind of big front page splash on the telegraph on the basis of this information about MP's expenses. But I think, Joe, we've got to rewind a bit further back to just what MP's general lives

were like then and kind of still are like, no, just the weird nature of where their job is.

...