Brown urged to 'disinfect' MP expenses system'

London: Gordon Brown was urged to "disinfect" the Commons expenses system Monday as the row over Home Secretary Jacqui Smith put Labour's record on sleaze under scrutiny.

Downing Street, said to be irritated that the row has overshadowed preparations for the G20 summit, scrambled to throw a protective arm around Smith after the disclosure of her husbands' porn movie claims.

However, Conservative leader David Cameron warned that her expenses claims put extra pressure on the Prime Minister to order an urgent review of MPs allowances.

Cameron said Brown should implement the Tories' system of forcing MPs to be transparent about every penny they claim from the taxpayer.

"Sunlight is the best disinfectant," he told GMTV. "That's what needs to happen, complete transparency about these expenses. That means the public can see what MPs are claiming and it means MPs will stop claiming for things they can't defend."

He warned that the probe into Smith's second home allowance was more of a threat to her position.

Smith's political authority faces being weakened by ridicule from her critics as she struggles to get on with her job at the Home Office. Her position appears secure for the time being, but there was speculation that Brown would move her after June's European and local elections, which Labour is expected to lose heavily.

Labour hoped to fight back on the expenses front with some MPs poised to call in the police to discover how Smith's confidential expenses receipts were leaked to national newspapers.

Although few have defended the "mistaken" claim for the minister's TV bill, they believe digital images of all MPs' invoices may have been stolen and offered to the media in the form of a "dossier".

Smith set off for work this morning after spending the night at the London house at the heart of the row over her second home allowance. She claims £116,000 (Dh606,737) for using her sister's home in Nunhead as her "main home".

Sources close to Smith yesterday said that she was "particularly upset" at the row because she had recently gone through all her detailed receipts and confirmed she "had done everything straight" on her second home allowance although friends said she believes she will be cleared in a Parliamentary inquiry into the second home allowance.

One minister said Smith's husband, Richard Timney, had always been supportive whenever she had got into difficulties.

Timney lives in the minister's Redditch constituency with their two sons aged 15 and 10. He submitted the claim for a £67 Virgin Media bill that included the £10 cost for two "adult entertainment" features. A contrite Timney apologised Sunday for the "embarrassment" he caused to his wife. He earns just over £20,000 a year as his wife's assistant, government sources say, although some reports claim he is on £40,000 a year.

However, Cameron yesterday put pressure on Brown to speed up reform of the MPs' expenses system.