MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Brown apologizes for “wrongs” on behalf of politicians from all parties

PM Brown: “I want to apologise on behalf of politicians on behalf of all parties”

Britain’s House of Commons authorities are to try to bring forward the publication of MPs' expenses receipts from the planned date of mid-July. The Commons Commission, which oversees MPs' affairs, rejected calls for immediate release of the details but said they would be published as quickly as possible.

Commission spokesman Nick Harvey said: “We will do all that we can to speed that up as fast as is humanly possible.”

The news came after Gordon Brown offered a public apology on behalf of MPs of all parties as the row over parliamentary expenses continued to engulf Westminster. The Prime Minister said it was essential to rebuild public trust in politicians following damaging recent disclosures.

In a speech to the Royal College of Nursing annual conference in Harrogate, he said where “wrongs” had come to light they should be addressed immediately.

“I want to apologise on behalf of politicians on behalf of all parties for what has happened in the events of the last few days,” he said.

Mr Brown's intervention came as the spotlight shifted to the Tories as The Daily Telegraph began publishing details of the expenses claims of members of David Cameron's Shadow Cabinet team. The Conservative leader said individual MPs needed to own up to mistakes they had made and to offer a “big acknowledgement” that they were sorry this had happened.

In his speech, Mr Brown said it was essential that MPs of all parties came together to “clean up” politics and reform the allowances system. He emphasised that restoring trust in politicians was essential if they were to build public support for investment in services such as the National Health Service.

“That is why it is so important that together and collegiately we can make sure that the politics of this country is cleaned up,” he said.

Downing Street has made clear that Mr Brown would not want to see a system of auditing MPs' expenses claims introduced which would mean they were exempt from the Freedom of Information legislation. “I think the Prime Minister's view is that there needs to be tougher auditing but this should not be at the expense of transparency,” Mr Brown's spokesman said.