Conservative pressure for an election is building, while the government appears likely to delay as long as possible, writes FRANK MILLAR, London Editor
TORY LEADER David Cameron is attempting to convert public outrage over the Westminster expenses scandal into irresistible pressure on prime minister Gordon Brown to call an early general election.
Their renewed clashes on the subject yesterday may have had the appearance of Commons ritual, with Mr Cameron demanding a contest he expects to win from a prime minister determined to delay until the latest possible date next year.
The continuing dangers from the ongoing expenses disgrace, however, are set to converge with next month’s European and local elections, where heavy Labour defeats could yet revive a threat to Mr Brown’s leadership.
Respected Labour sources who previously dismissed the idea that Mr Brown could be forced out ahead of the general election have told The Irish Timesthey no longer discount the possibility of a leadership challenge later this year. Ironically, Mr Brown's best defence in that scenario might be that the installation of a second "unelected" prime minister would force any successor to call an early poll in which Labour is likely to be the biggest casualty of Westminster "sleaze".
Mr Brown and Mr Cameron, meanwhile, face the increasingly complex and delicate task of deciding which of their MPs should be deselected for abusing the expenses and allowances system.
That task has, if anything, been made more difficult by the raft of interim reforms agreed by party leaders on Tuesday and announced by Commons leader Harriet Harman yesterday.
Labour’s new internal “star chamber” is already examining the position of MPs Elliot Morley and David Chaytor, who claimed for mortgage interest payments on mortgages they had already cleared.
Also under party investigation is Luton South MP Margaret Moran following the revelation that she claimed £22,500 (€25,600) to treat dry rot in her partner’s Southampton home, many miles from her constituency and from London.
The spotlight also remained firmly on communities secretary Hazel Blears after the prime minister described her behaviour – like that of Ms Moran – as “totally unacceptable”. Ms Blears’s difficulty arises in respect of capital gains originally not paid on the sale of a “second home” in London.
Downing Street insisted that Mr Brown had “full confidence” in Ms Blears, while commentators asked why the prime minister would want to retain any cabinet minister whose conduct he found “totally unacceptable”.
The difficulty for Mr Brown, as for Mr Cameron, may be in deciding where to draw the disciplinary line in light of the proposed new rules banning, for example, the now-notorious practice of MPs “flipping” the designation of their first and second homes in order to maximise the benefit.
Chancellor Alistair Darling and transport secretary Geoff Hoon are among those MPs revealed to have done this under the old system. For Labour and Conservatives it remains unclear which “abuses” of the old system will be deemed tolerable and which will lead to deselection.
Labour veteran Tony Benn warned that MPs of all parties damaged by the Daily Telegraphdisclosures may feel the voters' fury, whether or not they survive internal party scrutiny. The potential for high-profile independent candidates to challenge some of Westminster's worst offenders is underlined by the interest generated by TV personality Esther Rantzen's confirmation that she will decide next week whether to challenge Ms Moran in Luton. If the Labour leadership acts to deselect Ms Moran, Ms Rantzen already looks like one candidate who might unseat any one of a number of more senior politicians.
Meanwhile, Mr Brown stumbled into a Tory trap yesterday, having earlier suggested an early election would result in “chaos”. When Mr Cameron asked what he meant by this remark, Mr Brown replied: “What would cause chaos is if a Conservative government were elected and caused public spending cuts.”
Quick on his feet, the Conservative leader fired back: “So there we have it – the first admission that you think you are going to lose.”
Mr Brown made a better fist of his second reply, telling Mr Cameron the Commons needed to show “humility” in recognition that many MPs on all sides had made mistakes, and also “the humility to recognise we also have the duty to sort the problem out”. But Mr Cameron hit back: “People will just hear . . . a prime minister who won’t let the public decide.”