TORY LEADER David Cameron has ordered members of his shadow cabinet to pay back disputed parliamentary expenses claims he considers “unethical and wrong”.
Seizing the initiative from a parliament now mired in crisis, Mr Cameron also announced the establishment of a scrutiny panel “to review every excessive claim” by any Conservative MP. And he warned that offenders will lose the party whip if they refuse to accept the panel’s verdicts on what funds should be returned.
Mr Cameron acted to clean the Conservative stable after the latest Daily Telegraphrevelations about life as lived by "Tory grandees" who claimed tens of thousands of pounds to help maintain moats, swimming pools and even domestic staff in their manor houses and stately homes.
As former Conservative Party chairman Lord (Norman) Tebbit urged people to withhold support from Conservatives and Labour in next month’s European elections in protest at the expenses scandal, Mr Cameron has said he is “appalled” by the continuing revelations.
With the police now being urged to investigate the claims of a number of leading politicians, including chancellor Alistair Darling and transport secretary Jeff Hoon, House of Commons leader Harriet Harman urged the Westminster authorities to go back over expenses previously agreed and determine whether any deemed “excessive” should be repaid.
In the Commons, meanwhile, there was renewed tension over the position of speaker Michael Martin, when Labour MP David Winnick suggested Mr Martin should apologise for “personal comments” made on Monday to Labour MP Kate Hoey.
While accepting that his actions would not fix what he called Britain’s “broken politics”, Mr Cameron emerged to face another day of damaging headlines for his party. He was clearly determined that public anger demanded urgent leadership that could no longer await the deliberations of the Commons authorities or the creation of any sort of Westminster consensus.
“I want to start by saying sorry. Sorry that it has come to this. And sorry for the actions of some Conservative MPs,” he said.
“People are right to be angry that some MPs have taken public money to pay for things few can afford. You have been let down. Politicians have done things that are unethical and wrong. I don’t care if they were within the rules. They were wrong.”
As a result, Mr Cameron announced, shadow cabinet ministers had started writing cheques in repayment – among them Michael Gove for £7,000 (€7,800) claimed for furniture, Oliver Letwin, £2,000 for the pipe under his tennis court, Andrew Lansley for home improvements to the tune of £2,600 and Alan Duncan nearly £5,000 for gardening expenses.
Mr Cameron would pay back the only maintenance bill he had claimed in eight years as an MP. He also announced that Francis Maude and Chris Grayling would no longer claim expenses for their second homes in London.
Mr Cameron also announced he was banning his MPs from “flipping” the designation of their first and second homes in order to maximise their expenses benefit.
He also said that any MP selling a home on which mortgage interest had been paid by the taxpayer would pay capital gains tax on selling it.
Conservative MPs will also be banned from making claims for furniture, household goods or food.