British home secretary set to resign

BRITISH home secretary Jacqui Smith became the first cabinet casualty of the MPs’ expenses scandal, after it was revealed she told Prime Minister Gordon Brown within days of revelations about her finances that she wanted to quit the Government in a reshuffle.

Smith was the most high-profile among a clutch of resignations to hit Brown yesterday, including two further members of his administration. The moves created a momentum that threatens to derail his planned relaunch in the wake of what are expected to be abysmal polling results for Labour in the council and MEP elections tomorrow.

Children’s Minister Beverley Hughes announced she wanted to leave in the shake-up – for family reasons – and Cabinet Office Minister Tom Watson is also expected to step down.

Labour backbencher David Chaytor confirmed he would retire at the next election to contest claims he reaped almost £13,000 (€15,069) in taxpayers’ cash on a mortgage that did not exist.

And ex-cabinet minister Patricia Hewitt, relatively untouched by the expenses furore, said she was not seeking re-election, to concentrate on charity work in India.

Sources said Smith was so hurt by revelations in March – including the humiliation of repaying £10 her husband Richard Timney, who works as her assistant, claimed for watching two adult films – that she told Brown just days later she wanted to quit.

One source said she wrote to the prime minister at Easter in the wake of disclosures about her expenses to inform him she did not wish to continue in Government.

As well as the outrage over her claim for adult films, Smith was criticised for claiming her main residence was a rented room in the property she shared with her sister.

That allowed her to claim second home allowance on the family home in Redditch, Worcestershire.

It is understood Smith’s decision was influenced not just by the expenses claims, but also driven by a desire to spend more time with her family.

Her children, aged 10 and 15, live with Timney during the week while Smith is in Westminster.

The source defended Smith’s claims compared with later revelations, and said the family “went through” the expenses scandal before the wider story broke, meaning they faced the media attention on their own. Smith did not mention her decision as she opened a debate in the Commons yesterday.

Another cabinet reshuffle casualty could be Chancellor Alistair Darling, whose career is hanging by a thread after he was forced to apologise for, and pay back, hundreds of pounds he wrongly claimed on his taxpayer-funded expenses.