Cleaning bill leaves new stain on Brown

By Frank Prenesti

LONDON (Reuters) - The ailing Labour government suffered another blow to its authority on Friday when a newspaper published details of expense claims made by Prime Minister Gordon Brown and other ministers.

Brown, trailing the Conservative Party in opinion polls ahead of an election due by mid-2010, reclaimed 6,577 pounds he paid his brother for cleaning services at his London flat, Daily Telegraph reported.

A spokesman for Brown's office told the newspaper he was reimbursing his brother for his share of the cost for a cleaner they jointly employed, and was within parliamentary rules.

But the report, four weeks before local and European elections, added to public perceptions that lawmakers are taking full advantage of generous perks while ordinary people struggle to cope with a harsh economic recession.

"Absolutely outrageous," was the headline in the Daily Mail, often seen as representing the values of the conservative English middle classes.

Brown said the problem lay with a flawed allowances system for MPs that needed to be overhauled. Parliament approved limited changes to the system last week, but dropped plans to scrap a 24,000-pound allowance for second homes.

"I have been trying to make big changes in this system ... and make sure that everything is properly registered," Brown told the BBC. "The system doesn't work, we have said it has got to be changed. We have voted for change and that change has got to come quickly."

House of Commons Leader Harriet Harman, Brown's party deputy, told BBC radio: "I know that this looks bad and that people are angry.