Cash for questions: two years and £130,000 before disgraced MP can be voted out In April, Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister, said that he agreed with the principle of recall. However, he believes there should first be an agreement by a parliamentary select committee that an MP has behaved with serious impropriety. Under the current rules, an MP can be expelled only if they are jailed for more than a year. In order to leave office voluntarily, they must follow an arcane procedure, which involves being appointed to the office of steward of either the Chiltern Hundreds or the Manor of Northstead. Matthew Sinclair, the chief executive of the TaxPayers" Alliance, said voters needed the right to recall their representatives. "Mr Mercer's constituents should have the right to hold him to account for his actions if they feel he has let them down, but they cannot do so because the Government has failed to introduce the recall mechanism it promised," he said. Last year, the all-party Commons political and constitutional reform committee raised concerns about the recall proposals, suggesting they would be hard to implement. In a formal response to the committee last October, the Government said it would need more time before proceeding with its plans. Mr Mercer employs his wife, Caitriona, as a junior caseworker. Her salary is paid by the taxpayer as well. Both will continue to accrue their taxpayer-funded pensions. Last year, Mr Mercer claimed £26,671 under the allowance scheme. During the 2009 expenses scandal, he was criticised for making a large profit on a London flat funded by the taxpayer. He bought the flat for £335,000 shortly after he was elected and sold it for £515,000 in 2009. His mortgage interest claims in that time were up to £1,886 a month. In a review of the expenses claims, he was also ordered to repay £2,200 that he claimed for his mortgage costs.