THE CASUALTY toll in the Westminster expenses scandal continued to rise yesterday, with Conservative MP Julie Kirkbride and Labour’s Margaret Moran announcing that they will stand down at the general election.
They joined nine parliamentary colleagues already forced to serve notice of their intention to quit amid continuing Daily Telegraph revelations, a still-rising tide of public anger and the certainty that scores more will have followed suit within months.
Ministers from Chancellor Alistair Darling down are under scrutiny over allegations of tax avoidance and the use of taxpayers’ money to pay their accountancy bills, while yesterday’s spotlight also fell on Tory grandee Sir John Butterfill’s claims from public funds to help meet the cost of “the servants, or the staff, wing” in a six bedroom “second home” country residence set in extensive grounds, complete with swimming pool, on which he subsequently made a reported £600,000 tax-free profit.
As Conservative leader David Cameron said he “fully understood” Ms Kirkbride’s decision to follow MP husband Andrew Mackay into political oblivion, Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg sought to outflank his Tory rival with a populist call for the cancellation of MPs’ holidays pending completion of a programme to reform “every nook and cranny” of the Westminster system.
At the same time, ministers were urged to brace themselves “to speak the truth about power” to prime minister Gordon Brown in the aftermath of Labour’s predicted historic drubbing in next week’s European and English local elections.
The London Times newspaper said members of the cabinet would shortly have to decide whether to give public voice to “the frustration with Mr Brown’s leadership that is common currency among them” – with the likely result that the replacement of Mr Brown with health secretary Alan Johnston “would lead in short order to a general election”. Justice secretary Jack Straw has again insisted there is no possibility of a heave against Mr Brown following what looks certain to be a shattering defeat for the governing party next Thursday.
The previously “New Labour”- supporting newspaper contended, however, that – while potential assassins might fear the charge of disloyalty – “the advantages suddenly look very marked”.
With Labour taking the biggest hit from public anger over the expenses affair, Mr Clegg joined the competition with Mr Cameron to prove the most radical in promising to mend what the Tory leader calls Britain’s “broken politics”.
In an article in the Guardian, the Lib Dem leader anticipated a predictable howl of protesting awaiting MPs when they rise in July for their traditional summer break. “Let us bar the gates of Westminster and stop MPs leaving for their summer holidays until this crisis has been sorted out,” he declared.
Under his 100-day “action plan” Mr Clegg would have MPs agree to accept whatever recommendations emerge from the standards watchdog on their salary and allowances; draw up a Bill empowering voters to “recall” or sack errant MPs; and cap individual donations to political parties at £50,000 in any year.
Ms Kirkbride’s position had already seemed untenable after the original revelation that she and her MP husband had claimed two sets of second home allowances against two separate properties – her constituency home and their shared London residence.
Yesterday’s Telegraph maintained the pressure – this time with the allegation that she used taxpayers’ money to fund an extension to her constituency flat so that her brother could live in the property.
Ms Moran, the Labour MP for Luton South, said she would be stepping down, complaining that the furore over her £22,500 dry rot claim had damaged her health.