Tory leader vows to repay expenses

BRITISH Conservative Party leader David Cameron, tipped to be the next prime minister, said last night he would repay almost £1,000 (€1,174) in expenses he had mistakenly claimed.

Cameron, who has sought to take the initiative in a long-running expenses scandal affecting all parties, had already said he would pay back a £680 (€798) maintenance bill. But he promised to repay a further £267.29 (€313.91) after making further checks on his claims.

The £680 (€798) maintenance bill for his constituency home in Oxfordshire, included trimming climbing plants, replacing tap washers and changing light bulbs, according to the published expenses.

“I would like to make clear that these were discovered as a result of a thorough review by my office, not as a result of media enquiries,” he wrote in a letter to parliamentary officials.

MPs from all parties have been tarnished by weeks of disclosures in the Daily Telegraph about claims for everything from dog food to cleaning a moat.

The scandal has effectively ended the careers of more than a dozen MPs who have said they will not stand at the next general election, due by mid-2010.

The small sums involved in Cameron’s case, and his prompt action, looked likely to limit the fallout for him.

His announcement came hours after the expense details of all MPs for the last four years were released online, although with some key information blacked out.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s Labour Party has suffered most from the scandal because it has been in power since 1997 and has failed to clean up a discredited system.

On Wednesday, junior treasury minister Kitty Ussher quit little more than a week after rejoining the government following reports she had avoided tax on the sale of one of her homes. She denied doing anything wrong. The Conservatives are tipped to win the election but analysts say voters could switch to supporting fringe parties or independents, potentially crimping their majority.

Campaigners have fought a long battle for the release of details of MPs’ expenses and claims can now be viewed on the parliament’s website. However, many details have been redacted to protect the security of MPs and commentators said they were less startling than the uncensored information leaked in advance to the Telegraph.

Critics said the absence of addresses prevents voters from seeing who has been changing the designation of their main home to maximise allowances – one of the most contentious issues.

“The information on MPs’ allowances published by the House of Commons today would have made it impossible to detect the most serious abuses revealed by the Daily Telegraph over recent weeks,” lobby group the Campaign for Freedom of Information said.

Brown has pledged to try to reform parliament and pull Britain out of its deepest recession since World War Two before he calls a general election.

His spokesman said the release of the expenses was a step in the right direction. “In general, the prime minister believes there should be as much transparency as possible,” the spokesman said.

The publication of the expenses may open a fresh wave of attacks on lawmakers. Even the edited details provide ammunition to challengers.

“They may think that if they’ve survived the Telegraph, the worst is behind them,” said Philip Cowley, professor of politics at Nottingham University. “Instead, they’re going to spend the next year being hauled over the coals by their local papers and opposition candidates. Even the most innocuous claim will be made to look suspect.”