MP's Expenses - a Storm in a Teacup

I tried to explain this to a friend in America. It came out like this:

UK MPs get paid £66,000 a year (as opposed to $167,000 for US Congress members), but London is a very expensive city. So they feel underpaid.

They have a £24,000 expense account and most of the "claims" are a way to access this pot of money. Some of the claims are apparently scandalous - but mostly it seems most MPs on arrival at Westminster were told by other MPs that this was "how the system worked.".

The total amount involved is just over £15,000,000 per year for all 646 MPs -and most of the expenses were probably justified.

Overall, this is a hugely inflated story.