MP Chaytor to quit at next election

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David Chaytor, MP for Bury North, said he had made the decision to leave Parliament at the next General Election after weekend talks with senior party officials and his constituency party.

He had already been suspended from the Parliamentary Labour Party and faced the humiliation of being de-selected as a candidate after a forthcoming star chamber inquiry.

The announcement came as Alistair Darling's career as Chancellor appeared to be hanging by a thread after he was forced to apologise for, and pay back, hundreds of pounds he wrongly claimed on his taxpayer-funded expenses.

Transport Secretary Geoff Hoon was also under pressure after being forced to issue an apology and pay back money after admitting had "accidentally" overclaimed £384.

Children's Minister Beverley Hughes increased the sense of disarray in Westminster by telling the Prime Minister she wanted to leave the Government in his next reshuffle, which she suggested could be "very soon".

Ms Hughes will also be leaving Parliament at the next election, as will former health secretary Patricia Hewitt, it emerged. Both cited family reasons and denied their decisions were related to the expenses scandal.

But they were the latest of 15 MPs who have lined up to hand in their resignation notices since the furore erupted almost four weeks ago.

Another Labour backbencher, Jim Devine, was facing de-selection after being referred to the party's star chamber over allegations that he submitted receipts from a firm that may not have existed.

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