LONDON – British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has apologized for the excessive expenses claims by members of Parliament.
He pledged to overhaul the system. The apology follows days of embarrassing revelations about claims made by British MPs and government ministers, who used public money to pay for porn movies, horse manure and a wreath for fallen soldiers.
Brown himself has been embarrassed by reports he paid his brother Andrew 6,500 pounds – about US$9,800 – in public money for cleaning between 2004 and 2006. This was before he became prime minister.
According to documents published by Britain’s Daily Telegraph, several MPs have taken advantage of existing rules to claim thousands of pounds to renovate homes.
Brown told a conference of nurses in Harrogate, northern England: “We must show that, where mistakes have been made and errors have been discovered, where wrongs have to be righted, that is done so immediately,”
