Massage chair minister steps down over expenses

The MPs expenses scandal claimed its biggest scalp yet today when a government minister was forced to step down.

Gordon Brown ordered justice minister Shahid Malik to quit pending an investigation into claims that he benefited from subsidised rent on his home.

It came minutes after the minister defended claims for a £2,600 home cinema and £730 massage chair as "legitimate".

Despite a rising tide of voter disgust over MPs' conduct, Mr Malik said in a TV interview: "I'm as straight as they come."

The Prime Minister asked his independent adviser on ministerial interests, Sir Philip Mawer, to investigate the rental claims as quickly as possible and his report could come within days.

Cabinet minister Margaret Beckett also came under renewed attack after she made a fresh attempt to justify her food bills, claiming MPs had to eat in restaurants as part of their work.

With more MPs paying back cash by the day, the Standard can reveal that deputy Tory leader William Hague has also decided to end all his outside earnings from directorships and after-dinner speeches.

The inquiry into Mr Malik will centre on claims that he failed to declare a cash benefit from subsidised rents on his constituency home in Yorkshire.

He is accused of paying less than
£100 a week to a local landlord for a three-bedroom house in Dewsbury, well below a market rent.

Under the ministerial code, any such benefit should be declared and civil servants alerted Mr Brown late last night when the Daily Telegraph printed the allegation.

The Prime Minister and Cabinet Secretary Sir Gus O'Donnell decided to call in the new independent adviser and suspend Mr Malik. It is the first time the mechanism has been used since Mr Brown created the post in 2007.

The Prime Minister's spokesman said the expectation would be that Mr Malik would return to office if he was cleared and said no replacement was being appointed in the meantime.

But the minister's other expenses would also face an independent audit along with other MPs, he added.

A new poll showed today that public confidence in politicians has been wiped out in the past week as Labour, Tory and Liberal Democrat MPs have been forced to repay more than £130,000 in questionable expenses.

The Conservatives today suggested that Hazel Blears, who has repaid £13,000 in capital gains tax, and others should be suspended too.

A Tory source said: "This must put pressure on other Labour ministers who appear to have done far worse than Shahid Malik."

Mr Malik said he went "one million per cent by the book" in designating the house he rents in Dewsbury as his main home and insisted he was "not in it for the money".

He declined to discuss the claim that he was renting the house in Dewsbury at below market value, saying: "That is my private business.

"I have absolutely nothing to apologise for. I have done nothing wrong. I have not been at the periphery of the rules. I haven't abused the rules, I have been absolutely at the core of the rules."

Mr Malik offered to donate the £1,050 he was allowed to claim for his Sony flatscreen TV to local charities as a "gesture" to his voters in "difficult times". "I will not be giving it to the authorities in Parliament because it is legitimately mine," he said.

Labour MP Diane Abbott said she worried about the voters' anger. "Saying sorry isn't enough. Giving money back isn't enough. There's a mood among the public, they want to see dead MPs hanging from lamp posts," she said.

Mr Brown's spokesman said: "These accusations at this point remain accusations and it's important that Sir Philip establishes the facts. Pending the outcome of his establishing the facts, that's the reason why Shahid Malik is stepping down."

Mr Malik claimed £66,827 over three years — more than any other MP— on his second home in Peckham. Former independent anti-corruption MP Martin Bell today branded MPs "pirates" and called on some to "walk the plank" for their expenses scams.

In a letter to the Standard, he wrote: "I spent last week in Somalia, very impressed by the idealism of politicians in a new province who are unfortunately powerless to do anything about the piracy off their coast.

"In my country, I told them, the pirates are not at sea. It is good to see contrition from some MPs."