Smith bids to overcome expenses row

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Friends of Ms Smith insisted it would be "business as usual" after she was forced to issue an apology for "mistakenly" claiming the cost of watching two adult movies.

However, MPs were openly questioning whether her career could survive an incident which threatened to undermine her authority.

Ms Smith - who was said have been "mortified" by what had happened - did not actually see the films, which were watched by her husband, Richard Timney, at their family home in Redditch, Worcestershire, while she was away.

A contrite Mr Timney also apologised for the "embarrassment" he had caused to his wife while she promised to repay all the costs involved, including the £10 charge for the two films.

Downing Street issued a statement saying she was doing a "great job" as Home Secretary and that would not be deflected by the latest controversy. Nevertheless, the disclosures come at a difficult time both for Ms Smith and the Government.

Only last week Gordon Brown ordered the Committee on Standards in Public Life to launch a review of the whole system of MPs' pay and allowances in an attempt to quell growing public anger.

Conservative leader David Cameron described the latest revelations about expenses claims for adult movies by the Home Secretary as "deeply embarrassing" for her - but stopped short of calling for her resignation over the affair.

Mr Cameron called on Mr Brown to speed up the review of the whole system of MPs' pay and allowances, saying that there needed to be "complete transparency" in relation to claims by MPs.

The review call followed the disclosure that another Government member, Immigration Minister Tony McNulty, had claimed £60,000 in second home allowances on the house his parents live in in his Harrow constituency, even though he lived only a few miles away in Hammersmith, west London.