Gordon Brown has backed down from an attempt to make MPs’ expenses exempt from the Freedom of Information Act, after Lib Dem and Conservative MPs refused to support the move.

The campaign against the proposal was spearheaded by Unlock Democracy, with the support of Index on Censorship.

Over at the wonderful freedom of information campaign Heather Brooke’s Your Right to Know, some expenses:

Expenses claimed by MPs in 2008:
£87.6 million

Margaret Beckett’s garden plants and pergola:
£1,920

Barbara Follett’s window cleaning (wife of millionaire author Ken Follett):
£1,600

Derek Conway’s son’s salary (who was a full-time student at the time):
£40,000

Nicholas and Ann Winterton’s house rent expenses paid to their children’s trust fund;
£21,600