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The week Britain turned its anger on politicians

This article is more than 14 years old
The stream of revelations, recriminations and resignations over MPs' expenses has not only wrecked careers and ruined reputations; it has also threatened the legitimacy of mainstream parties to offer themselves for government. Among ministers, there is a now genuine fear of a rerun of the poll tax riots

A heavy drizzle hangs over the picturesque Worcestershire town of Malvern as Richard Burt works his way down a row of terrace houses. It is a bad night for an aspiring politician to be canvassing, and not just because of the weather.

A middle-aged woman flies out of her front door. "I know they are all lying shysters," she says. Then, recognising him as the husband of Liberal Democrat MP Lorely Burt, she adds: "I hope your wife isn't one of them."

The names "Kirkbride" and "MacKay" - the married Conservative MPs who maximised their expenses by each claiming for a different family home - are spluttered before she demands to know about Burt's wife's finances.

West Worcestershire, wherein Malvern sits, was a prime target seat for the Lib Dems even before its Tory MP, Sir Michael Spicer, was caught billing the taxpayer for his chandelier. Yet the voters' mood is now difficult to read. Steve Brown, canvassing alongside Burt, says: "It's almost like they are so angry, or so apathetic, they don't know what to say. They are really confused."

After a week of revelations, recriminations and resignations over the extraordinary abuse of taxpayers' money by those elected to serve them, the mood at Westminster is also verging on hysterical. "Last week, everyone was in denial. This week, everyone has been in shock. Next week, it will be panic," says John Mann, a Labour backbencher.

What is happening is no longer just a crisis for individuals, nor even for individual parties: the political system itself is under attack, threatening the moral legitimacy of mainstream parties to govern. Parliament has failed, the government is paralysed and the will of the people is asserting itself.

Professor Vernon Bogdanor, an Oxford don and constitutional expert, says the crisis is unparalleled in British politics: "The scandals in the French third and fourth republics are probably the nearest thing."

A senior minister calls it a "constitutional crisis"; a former colleague says events are spiralling out of control. "The implications are genuinely alarming."

Politics has always bred scandals, from the Profumo affair to "cash for questions", but previously voters knew which party to blame - and simply switched to their opponents. With every party now implicated, that safety valve has gone, says Ruth Fox, from the Hansard Society, a constitutional thinktank: "In the past, a general election would serve as a cleansing element to the body politic. That option is not available to voters now."

The tumbrils are not quite rolling up Whitehall, but MPs now fear the politics of the lynch mob. Bricks were thrown through the constituency office windows of Julie Kirkbride: politicians' wives face abuse in the street; and police are protecting the home of Scunthorpe MP Elliot Morley after revelations that he claimed £16,000 against a mortgage he had already paid off. Voters, says Labour veteran Diane Abbott, want "dead MPs hanging from lamp-posts". Even one of the government's steadiest performers, Margaret Beckett, was booed by the audience on last week's Question Time.

Among ministers, there is now a genuine fear of public disorder. Meltdown, an anarchist collective involved in the G20 protests, is organising an "overthrow the government" day in June, arguing that it is time to move beyond targeting bankers. "The last time it felt like this was probably just before the poll tax riots," recalls one Labour aide.

Even benign protests, such as the activists who dug a pound sign-shaped flowerbed on Tory frontbencher Alan Duncan's lawn to highlight his £4,000 gardening bills, leave MPs jittery. One Tory frontbencher due to canvass for June's elections this weekend was rung by panicking local councillors: "They said not only could I not come, but that they're not going out either. There's no point."

With public faith in the banking system shattered by the recession, and confidence in the police undermined by allegations of brutality, many MPs feel as if the establishment itself is crumbling. Where might this revolutionary fervour end?

Ian Fairbairn knows all about public revulsion: he is, after all, an estate agent. But he is also an angry and disillusioned Labour voter - and, as a trained web developer, he understands the potential of the internet to bring others like him together.

Despairing of parliamentary or police inquiries into MPs' conduct, he set up www.dishonourable.org.uk last week, inviting ordinary individuals to nominate MPs they feel have done wrong and independent candidates to register to stand against them. It is getting 100 hits an hour. "I thought it was probably appropriate to start people thinking what they might have to do if some of the more shameless don't actually stand down," he explains.

Fairbairn says loyal party supporters should not have to choose between re-electing a disgraced MP of their preferred party or being disfranchised. In Salford, he argues, Labour voters deserve a wider choice than Hazel Blears. Next door to him in Saffron Walden, he thinks Tories should not face the dilemma of either endorsing Sir Alan Haselhurst, who charged the taxpayer £12,000 in gardening expenses or defecting.

Such arguments are music to the ears of mainstream proponents of electoral reform. Malcolm Clark, of Make Votes Count, says the expenses row has exposed the weakness of a system that guarantees MPs in safe seats a life tenure, regardless of what they do. "If there is a strong feeling against some people because of what they've done, why should it be so hard to ditch them?"

Faced with such revolutionary talk, even mainstream politicians are coming around to the need for a purge. Labour's ruling National Executive Committee (NEC) will this week discuss emergency arrangements to get rid of MPs judged to have made themselves an electoral liability by abusing their expenses, overriding a system that protected any sitting MP already reselected for the next election.

An obscure rule would be used to allow the NEC to reject the candidacy of any member judged to have brought the party into disrepute. NEC member Peter Kenyon says MPs found wanting by Gordon Brown's promised audit of past claims should face the consequences: "The question is what assistance can be given to constituency Labour parties taking measured responses to that situation."

For the Tories, Cameron is not officially seeking deselections, but is said privately to want rid of the worst offenders.

Tomorrow, a scrutiny panel headed by the chief whip, Patrick McLoughlin, will start reviewing MPs' claims and deciding who should repay money: those who refuse will lose the whip, potentially triggering local deselections. MacKay also faces an extraordinary meeting of constituency members called for next Thursday.

But the sheer number of possible offenders - and the difficulty of judging claims that are technically within the rules but clearly politically unacceptable - presents headaches for all three parties. "Are we going to start removing the whip from 30 or 40 people? They could practically form their own party," says one Labour aide.

None the less, Cameron appears to have gained some credit by acting decisively. Ministers have sought similar boldness from Brown in vain, while MPs are furious that Downing Street seems to be waiting helplessly for the next blow to land.

"Everyone is on edge until about 3.30pm. If you haven't been called by then [by the Daily Telegraph], you know it's not you tomorrow," explains one cabinet aide.

Yet there were signs this weekend of Downing Street starting to get a grip after days of insisting that Labour could not act unilaterally, but must await cross-party recommendations to clean up the system.

"This has been Gordon being too scrupulous: it's not that he doesn't get it, but he has felt you have to take parliament with you," said one minister close to him. "But he is really seriously engaged."

From tomorrow, Downing Street will also finally begin scanning ministers' claims to see what other skeletons lurk.

The Tories have had 15 officials scouring receipts for days, meaning they could have ordered MacKay's departure before the Daily Telegraph got to him: Labour had no idea that justice minister Shahid Malik was in trouble until he hit the papers, leading to the embarrassment of Malik declaring himself "as straight as they come" on television, hours before being forced to stand down as a minister.

Similarly the chief whip, Nick Brown, knew for a week that Morley was in trouble after the MP confessed to "a problem" with his expenses - but he did not alert Number 10, nor even meet Morley, until the day before the story broke.

Cabinet minsters are also furious that Brown has left colleagues swinging in the wind while being quick to demand apologies from the Daily Telegraph over allegations that he paid his brother to get him a cleaner. "You have got to stand up for people," says one. "Will Lewis [the Daily Telegraph editor] got the full hair-dryer treatment over Gordon's cleaner, but it was only about protecting him."

And until clear guidance emerges from Brown on what is acceptable or who should repay money, MPs are at the mercy of the kangaroo court of public opinion.

Bitter recriminations fly against Hilary Armstrong, who has pledged to repay claims for food bills even though they were within the rules. Critics argue that, having earned a three-figure salary in the cabinet for almost a decade, she can afford it - unlike the average backbencher with an overdraft.

And while Downing Street was relieved when Hazel Blears voluntarily paid the capital gains tax avoided by designating her second home as a main residence to the Revenue and Customs when she sold it, not everyone feels the same. "Hazel throwing around these £13,000 cheques - that is more than some of her constituents earn in a year. It looks odd," says one ex-minister.

On the ground, repayment is being seen as either an admission of guilt or a sign that MPs must be overpaid if they can find huge sums overnight. "You're damned if you give it back and damned if you don't," says one cabinet aide.

Several ministers will now hand their receipts to their local papers rather than await formal publication in July. But that will inevitably cast suspicions on those who do not publish - ensuring the row runs right up to June's local and European elections.

When Lord Tebbit called last week for ordinary voters to show their disgust by protest voting for fringe parties, the wily Tory peer caught the public mood. It may have infuriated Tories as being a boost to Ukip, but in Labour circles there is almost relief at the prospect of coming fourth behind a party it regards as half-baked. Being beaten by Ukip is more palatable than the rise of something Labour fears far more: the British National Party.

Today's PoliticsHome poll reflects intelligence on the ground that the anti-BNP message from all three mainstream parties may be working: Searchlight, an anti-fascist organisation, reports a shift to Ukip in the BNP's top target seat, the northwest. As the Green MEP for the northwest, Peter Cranie, argues, this election is the BNP's "last hurrah": if it cannot win a seat in such favourable circumstances, it may implode.

Tebbit was careful to argue that angry voters should not back the BNP, but Bogdanor argues that supporting any fringe party is a waste of time unless voters genuinely believe in what it stands for. "It would be mad for people to vote for parties they don't believe in just to make a point. The right solution is for people to get involved: join parties and deselect MPs who have done wrong."

He argues that US-style primaries, allowing voters as well as party members to help pick a candidate, could channel public anger constructively. "In a large number of seats in the country, choosing the candidate is in effect the choice of an MP for life. This makes the case for primary elections."

As for politicians themselves, the London minister Tessa Jowell warns against the dangers of hiding from an angry public: "When the going is really tough like this, the most important thing is to meet people, listen to them, face their fury."

The House of Lords, which last week suspended two peers over allegations of misusing their position, will start the fightback this week by rubber-stamping plans for an independent audit of Lords expenses, which do not allow peers to claim for furniture, but include an overnight attendance allowance.

There is also a growing consensus in the cabinet that the Speaker, Michael Martin, must go, as a symbol of the need to change. As the Observer reports today, the prime minister appears ready to surrender him.

For if they cannot be trusted with taxpayers' money, politicians will lose the moral authority to take the decisions necessary in a recession. "How can we talk about spending cuts, when everyone is hearing about moats and chandeliers?" asks a Tory frontbencher. "But there are big decisions to be made."

Similarly, Labour's planned welfare reforms prompt accusations of hypocrisy. The government will shortly launch a consultation on housing benefit fraud - fronted by Kitty Ussher, the minister who tried to bill the taxpayer for removing Artex ceilings in her London home.

And unless parliament can stop the rot, it may spread through public life. This weekend, councillors are reporting demands being lodged under freedom of information legislation for details of their perks; senior MPs fear an inquisition spreading to senior NHS executives, chief constables, the BBC and the judiciary.

While it is unlikely that many have offended on the scale of MPs, in a climate of over gold-plated public pensions and job security, more revelations could drive yet another wedge between the people and the state.

And within the cabinet what is now being discussed is a more radical overhaul of how politics is conducted in Britain. Ministers, led by Harriet Harman, are pushing for a convention to be set up to tackle issues from MPs' pay to party funding, reform of the Lords and electoral reform, in one "big bang" solution.

Patricia Hewitt, a former health secretary, says the Constitutional Convention established nearly two decades ago in Scotland is one model, bringing together politicians with church leaders, civic society and the public to discuss wholesale reform. "The public elect us, it's the public who pay for us and we have to find a way of involving the public directly in resolving this crisis," she says. "This has gone beyond the question of MPs' pay and expenses. What is now happening is threatening to destroy people's confidence in parliament."

There is not long left to restore it.

How the figures add up

£129,006.82 Total sum repaid so far, from 24 MPs

104 Total number of MPs investigated

5 Minimum number of MPs being investigated by the Metropolitan Police after complaints from the public

3 Number of suspensions [Morley, Chaytor, Malik]

£320,000 Profit made by Greg Barker, the shadow climate change minister, on a London flat he sold 27 months after buying it with the help of £15,875 in stamp duty and purchase costs, with another £14,462 in mortgage interest repayments claimed on expenses

5p Smallest claim: for an Ikea carrier bag, by a Scottish Labour MP

£230.17 Most convenient claim: For food by one home counties-based Tory backbencher in February 2007 - the exact amount, to the penny, he had left available to him in allowances for that year

1 The number of days Labour MPs have left to make sure that their expenses for the past five years are lodged and ready for publication

Angels

Geoffrey Robinson
Backbench Labour MP
Salary £64,766

The millionaire former paymaster-general paid for all of his costs for the upkeep of his second home out of his own pocket - unlike similarly wealthy Tory MPs, such as Douglas Hogg and Michael Ancram, who claimed for moat cleaning and swimming pool maintenance respectively.

Martin Salter
Backbench Labour MP
Salary £64,766

Despite living 50 miles from Westminster, the Reading West MP has declined to rent or buy a second home in London. His total additional costs allowance claim between 2001 and 2008, covering the cost of staying away from home, was zero.

Ed Miliband
Secretary of state for energy and climate change
Salary £141,866

Has claimed an average of just £7,500 a year for his second home since he was elected in 2005. This covers rent in his Doncaster constituency and utility bills, but not furniture.

Ann Widdecombe
Backbench Conservative MP
Salary £64,766

The Tory MP for Maidstone and the Weald in Kent claimed £858 last year and £401 the year before, despite living 35 miles from Westminster. In 2004-05 and 2005-06, she claimed £9,206 and £2,593 respectively.

Theresa May
Shadow work and pensions secretary
Salary £64,766

She claimed £4,288 in second-home allowances last year while living in Maidenhead, Berkshire. She claimed £5,939 in 2006-07 and £4,878 the year before. In 2004-05, she claimed nothing.

David Howarth
Backbench Liberal Democrat MP
Salary £64,766

The MP for Cambridge has not claimed a penny in second home allowances since he was elected in 2005. He commutes the 60 miles between Westminster and his home by train.

Adam Afriyie
Shadow minister, innovation, universities and skills
Salary £64,766

The Tory MP for Windsor is another commuter and zero claimant for second home allowance. The entrepreneur, who rose from a childhood of poverty has not claimed a penny for travel or accommodation in London.

Devils

David Chaytor
Labour MP for Bury North
Salary £64,766

Claimed almost £13,000 in interest payments for a mortgage he had already paid off. Since 2004, he has claimed for five different properties, "flipping" his designated second home between London, Yorkshire and Bury. He claimed for one home where his son was the named occupant on council tax bills.

Sir Gerald Kaufman
Labour MP for
Manchester Gorton
Salary £64,766

The former environment minister charged the taxpayer £1,851 for a rug he imported from a New York antiques centre and tried to claim £8,865 for a television. He has been asked to discuss details of another claim relating to £28,834-worth of work on the kitchen and bathroom at his London flat. He also claimed £1,262 for a gas bill that was £1,055 in credit.

Keith Vaz
Chairman of the home affairs select committee
Salary £78,805

Claimed more than £75,500 in expenses for a flat in Westminster, even though his £1.15m family home is just 12 miles from parliament. Made claims of around £16,000 relating to his family house, including more than £480 on 22 cushions and £2,614 for a pair of leather armchairs and an accompanying footstool.

Elliot Morley
Former Labour minister
Salary £64,766

The former agriculture minister was suspended after claiming parliamentary expenses of more than £16,000 for a mortgage on his constituency home that had already been paid off.

Andrew MacKay
Former aide to Conservative leader David Cameron
Salary £64,766

The MP for Bracknell in Berkshire - who is married to Julie Kirkbride, the Tory MP for Bromsgrove in Worcestershire - has said he made an "error of judgment" using his second-homes allowance to pay mortgage interest payments on the flat he shared with Kirkbride near Westminster, while his wife used her allowance to pay off the loan on their family home near her constituency.

Shahid Malik
Junior minister at the ministry of justice
Salary £95,617

Malik has been paying less than £100 a week in rent for his main home in his constituency of Dewsbury, while charging taxpayers £66,827 over three years for his second home in London. His second-home claims have included £2,600 for a home cinema system.

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