The memories of political commentators are short. It is remarkable how little the name of Elizabeth Filkin has featured in discussion of the current massive sleaze revelations.
The outcry against Commons sleaze at the end of the Major government led to a toughening up of regulation. The Blair government found this inconvenient, particularly when standards commissioner Elizabeth Filkin was investigating ministers Geoffrey Robinson, John Reid and Keith Vaz.
So Blair and Martin forced her out, replacing her with someone more compliant, on a markedly lower salary and with less resources to do the job.
The culture of sleaze and corruption did not accrue accidentally and innocently. It was entered into quite deliberately, and New Labour ruthlessly eliminated obstacles to corruption.
This is the BBC interview Filkin gave as she was forced out:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/olmedia/1690000/audio/_1693146_filkin08_filkin.ram