Tories attack Brown on expenses

Mr Brown was not present for the vote on expenses

Gordon Brown has been accused by the Tories of failing to show leadership on reforming MPs' expenses.

They accused the prime minister of "going awol" when MPs voted to keep their second homes allowance.

The Tory frontbench voted on Thursday to scrap the perk, but 33 government ministers voted to keep it.

Mr Brown, whose spokesman said he was in meetings during the vote, told the BBC he was "very disappointed" and the issue would have to be revisited.

His spokesman said earlier he had been kept informed of the progress of the debate, adding: "He did not duck the vote".

'Out of touch'

Mr Brown told the BBC later: "I was not happy with what happened. I am very disappointed about the vote.

"We voted to keep the pay of Members of Parliament down below some of the settlements in the public sector but we've got to look at the issue of transparency and accountability and expenses again.

"I'm disappointed but I believe we can make progress again."

FROM THE TODAY PROGRAMME In full: The 'John Lewis list' Ministers who voted to keep existing allowances John Lewis 'surprised' by MP row

But Conservative leader David Cameron said: "There is an urgent need for reform, which is why I led my shadow cabinet to vote against the John Lewis list.

"Gordon Brown also had a real opportunity to show leadership and vote for change, but once again he bottled it.

"On the one hand he expresses disappointment at last night's result, yet he didn't even turn up for the vote. His excuse that he was in a meeting is utterly feeble - particularly when his whips were herding people to wreck the reforms."

More than half of the 646 MPs did not take part in the contentious vote. Of the 172 who voted to keep the old system of allowances, subjected to internal audits, 146 were Labour MPs.

'One-way argument'

Downing Street said Mr Brown had no plans to sack his Parliamentary aides, Ian Austin and Angela Smith, who voted to keep the second homes allowance and so-called "John Lewis list" - the use of public money to pay for household items like TVs and furniture.

There were newspaper reports Mr Austin was involved in a shouting match with Shadow Chancellor George Osborne as MPs voted on the issue on Thursday.

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith, Culture Secretary Andy Burnham and Northern Ireland Secretary Shaun Woodward were among 33 ministers who voted to keep the old allowance.

Tony Blair's claims were published after an Freedom of Information battle

Proposals to change the system were drawn up after a five-month inquiry by the Members Estimate Committee after Tory MP Derek Conway was reprimanded for overpaying his son for Parliamentary work.

They included an end to the "John Lewis list" and replaced the additional costs allowance, used to cover the cost of running a second home, with other allowances, as well as calling for spot checks and external audits.

Lib Dem MP Nick Harvey, who was on the Members Estimate Committee, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme the measures were "absolutely vital" to try to rebuild public confidence in Parliament.

"The fact that the public's hard-earned money can be used for MPs to buy and then indeed own a plasma television is just a one-way argument in public perception that we were never going to win," he said.

'Great cost'

He also said it would be "very, very hard" to tackle the perception that MPs had their "snouts in the trough" after the vote - which he said had created "a real headache" for efforts to restore public confidence.

On Thursday, following debates on pay and expenses, MPs voted by a majority of 28 to retain the additional costs allowance, and to have their spending looked at only by internal, rather than external, auditors.

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Labour MP David Winnick said it had been a "missed opportunity" which "gives the impression of an abuse of public expenditure".

But Labour former minister Peter Kilfoyle rejected the notion that by opposing the new rules he had voted to keep the "John Lewis list" - saying that was something drawn up by Commons officials not MPs.

He told the BBC he was very concerned about teams of external auditors "at very great cost" being able to "to trawl through individual MP's office".

New rules

Mr Kilfoyle said all receipts were audited in the Commons fees office adding: "Why should someone come round my office and do an effective time and motion study on my staff - when I'm technically self employed?"

There were also questions about whether the new system might be too bureaucratic - and who would police a new overnight allowance - to be claimed for every night they stayed in London.

Sir Christopher Kelly had questioned whether the new rules went far enough

MPs' expenses came under scrutiny after the Derek Conway case and a Freedom of Information tribunal ruling that details of MPs' second homes allowance claims should be published.

The tribunal criticised the existing rules as "deeply unsatisfactory", said checks were "very limited" and rules were "lax".

Some new rules have already been brought in. MPs employing relatives have begun declaring them and MPs must now submit receipts on all items worth more than £25 - previously they could claim up to £250 without a receipt.

Sir Christopher Kelly, chairman of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, last week questioned whether even the new rules went far enough.

Asked about Thursday's vote to reject reforms, he said: "I would expect the public to react very badly."