LONDON — Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Saturday that any lawmaker in his party who is found to have broken rules regarding their expense accounts must leave his government.
In an article he wrote for a London newspaper, Brown offered what amounted to a public apology and a strongly worded rebuke of his own governing Labour Party regarding a deepening scandal about questionable expense-account claims that have been made by British legislators in the top three parties.
On Saturday, the Labour Party suspended a second member of Parliament, David Chaytor, for claiming reimbursement for nonexistent mortgage payments.
Brown said he was “appalled and angered” by the revelations and said the public had the right to expect higher standards from politicians.
“The bottom line is that any MP who is found to have defied the rules will not be serving in my government,” he said in an article to be published in today’s News of The World newspaper. “The action must be swift and comprehensive.”
Brown said every expense claim made by lawmakers over the past four years will be investigated.
Britain has seen its share of political controversies over the years, but few have tarnished all three of the country’s main political parties in a single stroke.
Leaked lawmaker expense claims for chandeliers, horse manure, pornography and moat upkeep on country estates, among other items, have enraged voters — many of whom have lost jobs and homes during Britain’s deepening recession.
