Entire government caught up in expenses outcry
Daily Telegraph publishes expenses claims of four more Labour ministers and several other MPs
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Saturday, 09, May 2009 08:21
The newspaper which obtained details of Cabinet ministers' expenses claims says it has enough information to "implicate the entire government".
The Daily Telegraph published new details on Saturday showing four more Labour ministers had pushed the expenses system to the limit with their claims, which included £25,000 on 'security patrols' and a male minister claiming on women's clothing, tampons and nappies.
On Saturday the paper also published - what it claims to be the first of many - details of a senior Tory MP and his expenses claims.
Greg Barker, the shadow climate change minister, made £32,000 from a flat with taxpayers' money before selling it on.
Public anger is likely to centre on the four Labour ministers having their successful expenses claims published today, including multimillionaire tourism minister Barbara Follett, who claimed more than £25,000 on security patrols over four years after being mugged in Soho.
Phil Woolas, the immigration minister at the centre of the row over Gurkha resettlement, made the claims on women's clothes, tampons and nappies, while care services minister Phil Hope spent £37,000 refurbishing a south London flat and health minister Ben Bradshaw changed the designation of his second home to claim the entire interest bill despite owning half the property.
The Telegraph claims that Labour MP for Luton Margaret Moran may be among the most prolific of making claims that go against the spirit of the system; repeatedly switching her second home designation between Westminster, Luton and Southampton.
The Metropolitan police have already been asked to investigate the leaks that led to the paper publishing the expenses claims, which begun with 13 Cabinet ministers yesterday.
None of those named have apologised but did criticise the system that allowed them to do it.
Gordon Brown, who it emerged yesterday paid £6,500 for a cleaner for his Westminster flat on expenses, told the BBC that "this is a system that's got to change".
And David Cameron said he was "looking forward" to explaining his own expenses in July when the full claims are published.