Sunday, March 14, 2010 Previous editions
Tuesday, February 09, 2010
BRITISH prime minister Gordon Brown was accused of being out of touch on the expenses scandal yesterday after Labour withdrew the party whip from the three MPs being prosecuted.
Tory leader David Cameron described the move, three days after the charges were announced, as a "humiliating" U-turn by the prime minister.
Labour insisted the suspension of David Chaytor, Elliot Morley and Jim Devine followed a review undertaken "immediately" after it became clear on Friday they were facing trial.
Aides to Cameron pointed out he removed the Tory whip from Paul Hanningfield within a couple of hours of the Conservative peer’s charges being announced at the same time.
Cameron used a speech to blame the prime minister of helping create the culture that resulted in the collapse of public confidence in politics. "Now I gather, in a humiliating change, they have actually withdrawn the Labour whip from all three of those MPs. They are now in a headlong retreat," he said.
"The last 24 hours, I believe, have shown the instincts of the Conservative Party, when it comes to this issue about expenses, are in tune with the public mood, are in the right place, and Labour’s are not."
Chaytor, Morley, Devine and Hanningfield are all charged with counts of false accounting in their expenses claims.
They will appear at City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court on March 11.
If found guilty, they could face jail sentences of up to seven years.
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