Tonight:
9°c
David Cameron was hit by a "bedblockers' rebellion" today over claims he is purging the party of old and awkward MPs on the back of the expenses scandal.
The charge came as another Tory faced disciplinary action for allegedly milking his allowances.
Millionaire Northampton South MP Brian Binley claimed £57,000 from the taxpayer to rent a flat from his own company.
In a letter secretly circulated to Conservative MPs by an anonymous backbencher, Mr Cameron was accused of a "Stalinist" campaign to punish dissidents and seize greater control .
"The party in Parliament has ceased to be a team effort and is now just run and dictated to for the personal advantage of David Cameron and George Osborne," it added.
The letter said MPs caught in expenses rows were being tried in a "kangaroo court" by Mr Cameron's close aides.
It added: "Colleagues are threatened with expulsion, older members are being forced out, untested candidates are being invited to apply from nowhere, and all of it is designed to assert a Stalinist hold over the party."
Mr Cameron's spokeswoman said Tory MPs leaving the Commons were doing so voluntarily.
Mr Binley claimed £1,500 a month for a Pimlico flat despite rules banning MPs from renting properties from themselves or their companies.
He said the arrangement had been approved by the Fees Office. When the ban was introduced he had appealed against it but lost before moving to another flat which cost the taxpayer more money.
