Heads roll in British expenses row

LONDON – Britain’s parliamentary expenses row claimed its first scalps yesterday, as Prime Minister Gordon Brown suspended a former minister while an opposition MP was forced to quit by the latest revelations.

Brown, struggling to show leadership over an issue which is exacerbating his poll woes, took the action after former environment minister Elliot Morley was found to have claimed for a non-existent home loan.’Where standards are transgressed and mistakes are made we have got to take action,’ Brown said, announcing Morley’s suspension from the parliamentary Labour party.And he warned: ‘Where disciplinary action is necessary it will, and will immediately, be taken. If there are any other disciplinary cases where we have to take action, we will take action immediately.Embarrassing details of MPs’ claims for everything from swimming pools to tennis courts and even a moat have been revealed over the last week, rocking all three main parties.But Brown has the most to lose, as polls indicate his Labour Party faces ouster at the Conservatives’ hands in elections due within a year.In the latest details published by the Daily Telegraph, it emerged that Morley claimed more than N$199 200 for monthly interest payments during an 18-month period after the loan was paid off.Morley, who could in theory face legal action over the revelations, accepted his mistake.’I deeply apologise for such sloppy accounting in a very loose and shambolic allowance system but there is nobody to blame but myself and I take full responsibility for this,’ he told the Scunthorpe Telegraph.’I apologise unreservedly.’But as well as his party suspension a lobby group, the Taxpayers’ Alliance, demanded a police investigation – and warned of legal action.’If they do not investigate, then the Taxpayers’ Alliance will consider bringing a private prosecution against Mr Morley and any other MPs who appear to have broken the law,’ said the group’s chief executive Matthew Elliot.Earlier the Conservatives announced that lawmaker Andrew MacKay had resigned as an aide to party leader David Cameron after it emerged he and his wife, also a Tory MP, had claimed expenses for two home loans at the same time.MacKay quit after voluntarily submitting his expense claims to Conservative party officials.’That examination of MacKay’s past allowances revealed an unacceptable situation that would not stand up to reasonable public scrutiny,’ said a spokesman for Cameron.MacKay claimed expenses for the mortgage on a London home until April last year, at the same time as his wife Julie Kirkbride claimed an allowance on her constituency home.The expenses revelations have caused outrage in Britain, which is weathering its worst recession in decades, and prompted Brown to promise an independent review of all parliamentary expenses dating back four years.Cameron, who is hoping to oust Brown in elections due by next June, has sought to make political capital from the expenses row by ordering his lawmakers to repay any sums deemed unacceptable.Even before the expenses scandal many commentators said Cameron is virtually certain to win the premiership next year, three years after Brown succeeded Tony Blair in Downing Street.A Populus opinion poll for The Times published on Tuesday said Labour was down four points on last month to 26 per cent, while the Conservatives were on 39 per cent, albeit also down four.- Nampa-AFP