Australian PM asks MP to quit over prostitute scandal

Australian prime minister Julia Gillard said she had asked a lawmaker embroiled in a scandal over payment for prostitutes to quit the Labour Party, in a blow to her fragile minority rule.

Craig Thomson, whose vote is key to Gillard, is alleged to have used a former employer’s credit card to pay for prostitutes and lavish meals and make cash withdrawals before he became an MP.

Gillard said Thomson strongly denied the allegations and was entitled to the presumption of innocence, but she had made a judgment call based on the need to preserve parliament’s reputation.

The prime minister said she had also asked parliamentary speaker Peter Slipper, who faces claims he sexually harassed a male staffer and misused taxi services, to stand aside for “a further period of time”.

Gillard said both Thomson and Slipper, who is an independent lawmaker, denied the allegations against them, and she would not prejudge them, but she needed to take action to protect the dignity of government.

“I feel keenly that Australians are looking at this parliament and at the moment they see a dark cloud over it,” she said. “I want to ensure that Australians can look at this building, look at this institution and feel respect for this institution.”

Gillard, whose centre-left Labour government is flailing in opinion polls, has led a fragile minority government since deadlocked August 2010 elections.

With Thomson’s move to the crossbenches, Labour now holds just 71 seats in the 150-seat House of Representatives, compared with the conservative opposition’s 72.

However, Gillard has the support of two independents, a Greens MP and Thomson, who said he would support the government against any no-confidence motion and in supply bills, in order to give her control of the lower house.