UK expenses scandal prompts backlash against Brown

An expenses scandal that has discredited the British political system and fuelled calls for radical reform of the Mother of Parliaments looks set to prompt a voter backlash against Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

Disclosures that MPs have claimed everything from an adult movie to a chandelier on expenses have infuriated voters, eroding faith in the country's ancient democratic institutions and causing Britain's worst political crisis for years.

The scandal has led one junior minister from Brown's Labour party to step down pending an inquiry while two Labour lawmakers have been suspended and a senior adviser to opposition Conservative leader David Cameron has quit.

Other politicians have repaid thousands of pounds claimed on expenses and paid for from the public purse to try to save their reputations and dampen outrage and indignation gripping Britain.

Police are considering whether to launch a criminal investigation in the most serious of the cases, which were published over the last 10 days by the Daily Telegraph newspaper which obtained records of lawmakers' expense claims.

Queen Elizabeth had personally expressed her concern over the disclosures to Mr Brown, newspapers reported.

"Parliament has been brought into complete disrepute. There is a danger (to) the democratic process itself and the legitimacy of Parliament," Alan Rusbridger, editor of the Guardian newspaper, said. "It is quite a dangerous moment."

Britain has one of the oldest Parliamentary democracies and the Westminster assembly on London's River Thames is a model for Parliaments around the world and traces its origins back to the 12th century when barons and archbishops advised the king.

Voters enduring Britain's worst recession since World War II have been incensed to find out that members of Parliament have claimed public funds to clean swimming pools and a moat and buy manure for gardens. One even claimed for a bathplug.

Legislators from all the major parties have been involved and polls suggest voters could turn their backs on them at June 4 local and European elections, instead supporting fringe parties such as the far-right British National Party (BNP) or the anti-European Union UK Independence Party (UKIP).

Voters are likely to inflict the stiffest punishment for the expenses scandal on Mr Brown's Labour party, in power for 12 years, political analysts say.