Shoot the messenger, shoot the messenger's horse, shoot the sheriff, shoot the sheriff's dog -but not the guilty

The Speaker of the House of Commons has been forced to resign.
So that’s it then. All sorted.
Well, not quite.
The shamed, the shameless, and the shameful are making for the exits and the dark corners.
If the light turns towards them, they stare back brazenly. "I was told that it was OK" they say.
This is the Nuremberg Defence.
Or, they wave a just-written still-wet cheque for what a working man will earn in a year.
"Look!" they say, "I am giving it back".
Oh, how often have magistrates heard that one?
Those who have dwelt uncomplainingly, comfortably, within the Mother of Parliaments now want it to change. They peer uncomprehendingly from their warm, safe, cess-pit and promise to do better. They have run with the fox and now wish to hunt with the hounds.
("I’ve always been on the side of reform but the rest of them...")
Not good enough.
The public does not wish for reformation, but for revenge.
Revenge on a parcel of thieves and cheats.
A clean start with clean shepherds and a clean sheet.