Promoting its new book out today, the Telegraph discloses that a lack of army supplies for soliders fighting in Afghanistan motivated the whistleblower who leaked the unredacted MPs’ expenses data earlier this year.
The Telegraph will continue to protect the identity of its source, although it named another intermediary – former SAS major John Wick – in May.
“Workers who processed the MPs’ claims included serving soldiers, who were moonlighting between tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan to earn extra cash for body armour and other vital equipment.
“The soldiers were furious when they saw what MPs, including the Prime Minister, were claiming for and their anger convinced one of their civilian colleagues that taxpayers had a right to know how their money was being spent.
“The mole who leaked the data has told his story for the first time, in the hope that it will shame the Government into finally supplying the right equipment for the thousands of soldiers risking their lives in Afghanistan.
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“Five months after The Daily Telegraph broke the story of MPs’ expenses, the mole angrily denounced politicians who ‘still don’t get it’ and were still preoccupied with their own financial situation rather than the plight of troops.”