Scandal of UK MPs' expenses made 'most shocking story of last 50 years' India News and Travel Times Provides India-centric and other News and Features

The scandal of MPs' expenses in Britain made the "most shocking story of last 50 years", according to a poll. Several politicians had to resign after the story was disclosed, including the Speaker of the House of Commons. As many as 1,334 people were questioned during the survey commissioned by Universal. It revealed that 43 per cent of the people thought that the MPs' expenses was the biggest story of the last five decades, reports the Telegraph. Second on the list of most shocking news stories was former MP Edwina Currie's disclosure in her autobiography that she had a long running and passionate affair with former Conservative Prime Minister John Major, with 22 per cent people citing it. US President Bill Clinton's sexual liaison with Monica Lewinsky and his varying versions of events came third in the poll, with 12 per cent. He famously insisted he had not had sexual relations with "that woman" before changing his mind during a television interview. Sixty-seven per cent of the people questioned said that newspaper scoops were still important, despite the rise of 24 hour rolling news and internet blogs. The poll was conducted to coincide with the release of the DVD of State of Play, a political thriller about an investigative journalist.