Embattled Brown faces Cameron in Commons duel

On the eve of Euro and local elections at which Labour is expected to suffer a mauling at the hands of angry voters, the Prime Minister will face Tory leader David Cameron across the despatch box at question time.

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith's was the highest profile name among a clutch of Labour figures to announce yesterday they would quit, threatening to derail Mr Brown's plans for a post-poll relaunch.

News of her decision came before another senior minister's expenses claims - including £6,000 of work on his second home and a £2,225 sofa unit - were revealed by The Daily Telegraph.

Armed Forces Minister Bob Ainsworth defended his use of taxpayer-funded allowances, insisting he had remained within "the spirit and the letter" of Commons rules.

"The problem is, of course, that the rules were not good rules. We now must act to change this," he said.
The Prime Minister also took a pummelling from an editorial in today's Guardian calling for the Labour Party to "cut him loose".

This will come as another blow to Mr Brown because the paper's political allegiance is seen as being traditionally left-of-centre.

The editorial said: "The truth is that there is no vision from Brown, no plan, no argument for the future and no support. The public see it. His party sees it. The cabinet must see it too, although they are not yet bold enough to say so.

"Labour has a year left before an election; its current leader would waste it. It is time to cut him loose."

And the party leadership faced angry accusations of operating a "kangaroo court" after Norwich North MP Ian Gibson was banned from defending his seat by an internal panel examining controversial claims.

Mr Gibson was the only one of four MPs formally barred from standing again as Labour candidates by the National Executive Committee's "star chamber" not to have already announced he would quit.

But the president of his local party launched a scathing attack on the panel, accusing it of ignoring local support for the MP, who sold his taxpayer-subsidised flat to his daughter at a cut price.

"It was not a star chamber; it was a kangaroo court. They had decided before he even went," said Martin Booth.

"He had over 300 letters and emails of support and answer messages of support and they ignored it all. It just does not compare with a lot of the others. It is outrageous," he added.

David Chaytor (Bury North) and Elliot Morley (Scunthorpe), who both claimed thousands of pounds for interest on non-existent mortgages and Margaret Moran, who claimed £22,500 for treating dry rot at a home 100 miles from her Luton South constituency, were the others formally stripped of their nominations.

None of the four were expelled from the Labour Party or had the whip removed.

Another Labour backbencher, Jim Devine, is also to have his claim reviewed by the panel after allegations that he submitted receipts from a firm that may not have existed.

Ms Smith yesterday became the first Cabinet casualty of the expenses scandal.

Sources close to the Home Secretary said she was so hurt by revelations in March - including the humiliation of repaying £10 her husband Richard Timney, who works as her assistant, claimed for watching two adult films - that she told Mr Brown just days later that she wanted to quit.

Ms Smith was also criticised for claiming her main residence was a rented room in the property she shared with her sister, allowing her to claim second home allowance on the family home in Redditch, Worcestershire.

Children's Minister Beverley Hughes announced she wanted to leave in the shake-up - for family reasons - and Cabinet Office Minister Tom Watson is also expected to step down.

Ex-Cabinet minister Patricia Hewitt, relatively untouched by the expenses furore, said she would not seek re-election so she could concentrate on charity work in India.

Mr Brown, struggling to contain the expenses row, is to start chairing a new National Democratic Renewal Council, made up of ministers, from next week.

But his proposals to help rebuild the public's trust in parliament are being drowned out by the expenses row.

Feverish speculation at Westminster is already turning to the fate of Mr Brown after the impact of the results of tomorrow's elections sink in among Labour ministers and backbenchers.

The SNP and Plaid Cymru have announced they will use an opposition day debate next Wednesday to urge the Prime Minister to request the dissolution of parliament and hold a general election.