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MP: UK expenses row 'a McCarthy-style witch-hunt'

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-05-22 22:10

LONDON -- Disclosures in the British press about members of parliament's large expenses claims are a "McCarthy-style witch-hunt" that risks driving politicians to suicide, a British lawmaker said on Friday.

Nadine Dorries, a member of the opposition Conservative party, wrote on her blog that the two-week scandal, in which the Daily Telegraph newspaper has disclosed how members of parliament have abused their expense allowances, was forcing politicians to breaking point.

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"The atmosphere in Westminster is unbearable," she wrote on the blog. "People are constantly checking to see if others are OK. Everyone fears a suicide. If someone isn't seen, offices are called and checked."

Quizzed about her comments on BBC radio on Friday, she sought to back away from the suicide suggestion, but said the disclosures, including that politicians charged for duck ponds, horse manure, bath plugs and pornographic films, were forcing members of parliament to breaking point.

"What the Telegraph are executing is almost a McCarthy-style witch-hunt. The way they are deploying their tactics and the way they are treating MPs has reached a point now at almost two weeks where I think people are seriously beginning to crack.

"I have to say the last day in parliament this week was completely unbearable. I have never, ever been in an atmosphere or an environment like it, where everyone walks around with terror in their eyes. People are genuinely concerned."

The scandal has triggered outrage across recession-hit Britain and opposition calls for an early general election.

The disclosures, carried by the Telegraph, have focused on MPs use of second-home allowances to charge a host of ordinary items to expenses and sidestep capital gains taxes.

Several MPs have either been admonished by their parties or said they will stand down at the next election, which has to be held before June next year.

Politicians have been heckled and shouted at in the street for their behaviour and police are investigating whether there should be possible criminal charges.

European and local elections to be held on June 4 are expected to reflect the level of popular disgust at the row, with lower voter turnout and a move towards fringe or secondary political parties predicted.

Some MPs have tried to fight back, but largely been shouted down. Dorries, who is one of those to have been exposed in the newspaper for making claims for household goods, said it couldn't go on much longer.

"This has got to a point now where it is almost unbearable for any human being to deal with," she said.