Why did Henry McLeish have to go when other MPs have survived worse

asks Woolley:
A. Scottish first minister, Henry McLeish, resigned on November 8 over a row about expenses which was was turning into a police investigation.

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Q. Why did the police get involved
A. When Henry McLeish was an MP in Westminster, he claimed the full �8,700 rent allowance for his constituency office in Glenrothes, Fife. However, he sub-let the office to number of different tenants without declaring the extra income this brought.

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Q. Did he pocket the money
A. No - he spent the money on constituency arrangements. Even so, he paid back to the Commons fees office, from his own pocket, the �9,000 he had received from the law firm who were the latest tenants.

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Q. What about the other tenants
A. Mr McLeish said he considered the matter closed and refused to answer any further questions about earlier sub-lets and what was done with the money.

He has only recently revealed that they paid a total of �36,000. He said he would pay back the money if asked by the fees office.

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That's when it emerged that Fife police and the Inland Revenue were to investigate.

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Q. Could he have survived this
A. Yes, say the experts - despite the planned Conservative-led motion of no confidence. However, he resigned before it could be brought.

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Q. Did Tony Blair want him to go
A. No. Mr Blair asked him not to be hasty.

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Q. So, what pushed him
A. Possibly the overwhelming bad publicity, topped by the news from his aides that yet another mistake had been made in the disclosures about his office expenses: there had been yet another sub-let, to a charity.

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Distraught backbenchers claim that he has been persecuted by a media witchhunt.

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Q. What happens now
A. There will be a potentially damaging succession battle for Labour's Scottish leadership, as the Scottish parliament looks for its third first minister since it was set up two years ago.

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By Sheena Miller