Lawmakers' Expenses Tarnish U.K. Premier

LONDON, May 11 -- Dog food, horse manure, light bulbs and porn movies are among the items members of Parliament billed to taxpayers, according to expense accounts leaked in a scandal that has damaged Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

Monday, after days of embarrassing revelations over the expense reports, the speaker of the House of Commons said the system of reimbursing lawmakers requires "serious change."

Speaker Michael Martin said an independent auditor would be appointed to look into the generous allowances for members of Parliament, some of whom claimed large sums for gardening, home renovations and even swimming pool cleaning.

A poll published in the Mail on Sunday said that support for Brown's Labor Party had dipped to 23 percent, the lowest since polling began in 1943. A separate YouGov poll said 72 percent of those surveyed believe the prime minister is doing a "fairly bad" or "very bad" job.

To try to stop the slide, Brown is expected to reshuffle his cabinet and to demote Home Secretary Jacqui Smith, who apologized after X-rated videos that her husband watched appeared on her expenses.

But the opposition Conservative Party also has been pulled into the scandal; some of its members charged items that clearly did not appear work-related, including $3,000 to fix leaky pipes under a tennis court and $6.76 for dog food.

Cheryl Gillan, a member of Parliament from Wales, apologized for seeking tax money for food for her dog. She said that item slipped through because it was on a larger grocery bill.

British lawmakers are permitted to expense certain costs to maintain a second home. The allowance was intended for those who live far from London, where Parliament meets, but some members who reside within a few miles of the capital have claimed expenses for a second apartment. Many elected officials also appear to have used taxpayer money to renovate apartments that they then sold at large profits.

After a years-long freedom of information campaign by Heather Brooke, a freelance journalist who was born and raised in the United States, lawmakers' expenses were to be released publicly for the first time in July. But the Daily Telegraph has begun publishing leaked reports, including that Brown paid his brother $9,800 to arrange cleaning services for his apartment. Brown's office said that the money did not go to his brother but to a cleaner he hired, and was appropriate.

Other members expensed a $15 bag of manure for garden fertilizer, $3 for a candy bar and $150 for workmen to replace light bulbs.

"We have to acknowledge just how bad this is," said David Cameron, the Conservative Party leader. "The public are really angry."

Brown said he "wanted to apologize on behalf of politicians, on behalf of all parties, for what has happened in the events of the last few days."

Rodney Barker, a professor of government at the London School of Economics and Political Science, said that although all political parties were tainted, this was most damaging to Brown because "he's the prime minister. He's supposed to be in charge."