Openly gay Labour Whip Nick brown has become the fourth British MP to be entangled in the inflated expenses claims affair sweeping through Westminster. Brown, who ironically is in charge of disciplining Labour MPs who break the rules on expenses and claims, claimed £18,880 for food expenses between 2004 and 2008 without submitting any supporting documents, the Daily Telegraph has revealed. Other gay MPs already caught up in the scandal include Business secretary Peter Mandelson who billed taxpayers £3,000 for work on his electorate just days after standing down as the electorate's MP. Between October 2006 and March 2007 Health Minister Ben Bradshaw claimed £1,080 per month in mortgage interest payments. Shadow environment secretary Nick Herbert claimed for £10,000 of £14,700 stamp duty on a new electorate home plus the full £1,893 monthly interest charges on the house’s £465,000 mortgage. His civil partner, Jason Eades, owns half of the home. The claims of abuse of legally allowed allowances have cut through the British parliament, affecting MPs of all parties, cabinet ministers and even Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Tuesday, 19th May 2009 - 11:39pm