As several local authority pension schemes added their support to the class action lawsuit being brought against RBS in the US by Cherie Booth QC (Tony Blair's wife), it became apparent that the MP's own pension fund wants in on the action.
The claim is that RBS withheld the extent of its problems prior to being bailed out by the government last year. Now, with the government's stake in the bank standing at 68% the lawsuit has been brought against the partly nationalised company.
This could result in the bizarre situation where if the class action is successful, RBS is forced to pay out massive damages to the MP's pension fund and other institutions, using money supplied by the government from the public purse.
There is very little risk to the plaintiffs because they do not have to pay costs even if they lose, and most lawyers will take on the case on a no win, no fee basis.
One MP was quoted as saying "It's only fair that the owners of businesses are called to account over mismanagement and forced to pay the consequences in cash. It just so happens that the British taxpayer is the majority shareholder of this business."
