There a re a few issues here
1. Te independent regulator found she had over claimed by £45 k and parliament £5k – they wont trust the press to regulate themselves [ who would] but , as with pay rises, they have different rules for themselves.
2. both told her off for not engaging in the process, having contempt for the process is at least as damning as the original crime She cannot claim she did not know for both of these
3. i always thing what they Tory reaction would be were it a poor person denying they had a an extra bedroom and how they would treat them
She has to go. It is not even a political point, she cheated the system, she barely engaged with the process and her apology was , to put it mildly, unacceptable and not that believable.
Even the Tory membership are turning on here and only her mates in parliament seem to wish to defend her.
CMD has a pretty poor record of judgement on his pals. he appointed coulson and stood by him and now here……not great leadership or judgement IMHO