Careers crash in just two weeks

In just two weeks, Julie Kirkbride and Andrew MacKay's careers as MPs have been swept away by public fury over their expenses. This is how events unfolded:

14 MAY: Mr MacKay resigns as a senior aide to David Cameron after details of his "unacceptable" expenses are made public.

22 MAY: Mr MacKay is heckled and called a "thieving toad" at a meeting with constituents in Bracknell.

23 MAY: Mr Cameron forces Mr MacKay to announce he will stand down as an MP at the next election.

24 MAY: Ms Kirkbride faces allegations that she allowed her brother to stay rent-free at her taxpayer-funded second home in Worcestershire.

26 MAY: The Evening Standard reveals she employs her sister as a £12,000-a-year secretary working from home in Dorset, more than 100 miles from the MP's Bromsgrove constituency and the Commons.

YESTERDAY: Ms Kirkbride fights to cling on to her job with a series of TV interviews. She admits she used taxpayers' money to fund a £50,000 extension to her second home.

TODAY: Ms Kirkbride takes to the airwaves this morning to defend her claims, insisting they helped her carry out her job as an MP and as a working mother.

LUNCHTIME: She bows to public anger in her constituency and announces she will not stand at the next election.