UK Expenses Scandal Claims House Speaker

Govt's No. 2 claimed 2 houses at same time, may be demoted

(NEWSER) - Britain's ongoing political expenses scandal reached all the way to the second-highest post in government today, after the Telegraph broke news that Chancellor Alistair Darling reportedly expensed the service charge on a South London apartment he was renting out while also claiming allowances on his Downing Street house. Though he denies the allegation, Darling this morning agreed to pay back about $1,500; speculation is growing that he will be demoted in a government reshuffle as soon as Friday. More»

(NEWSER) - The improper-expenses scandal roiling the British government is so crippling that the entire parliament ought to be dissolved, and an emergency general election held, opposition leader David Cameron said today. The “political system is paralyzed,” said Cameron, who could push for a June vote, the Telegraph reports. “The country doesn’t want to wait another year to pass judgment on this government.” More»

PM's sister-in-law hits back after fiasco over housekeeping

(NEWSER) - British politicians have endured four days' worth of brutal press coverage after a newspaper published leaked parliamentary expense accounts, which include claims for everything from major home renovations to a Kit Kat bar. Gordon Brown, normally thought of as a frugal preacher's son, expensed $10,000 for cleaning—made payable to his younger brother. In an article for the Guardian, the PM's sister-in-law laments that the Browns' "tediously above board" arrangement has been blown out of proportion. More»

Blears resigns in potentially fatal blow to PM's authority

(NEWSER) - With one day to go before clutch British elections, another minister resigned from Gordon Brown's Cabinet today, dealing the beleaguered PM another devastating blow. Hazel Blears, an arch-Blairite who was exposed for avoiding $21,000 in capital gains tax, refused to praise Brown in her resignation statement. She is the fourth minister to quit in the past 24 hours, reports the Times of London—and if election results are as bad as predicted, Brown could soon be forced from office. More»

Tory then sold house and evaded capital gains tax

(NEWSER) - Just when the scandal over British MPs' expenses seemed to be petering out comes news that a Conservative legislator charged taxpayers $27,000 to build servants' quarters at his second home, the Times of London reports. Sir John Butterfill told the BBC the suggestion he had servants was a "gross misrepresentation." But then he slipped up when he tried to apologize for failing to separate his own home from "the servants', er, the staff wing." More»