Finance minister Alistair Darling apologised Monday for a "mistake" over his expenses claims and pledged to repay some of the money, as question marks grew over his future in the British government. Darling said it was up to Prime Minister Gordon Brown to decide his future role, amid reports he would be replaced as chancellor of the exchequer in a cabinet reshuffle after local and European elections on Thursday.
For his part, Brown declined to say whether he was considering putting someone else in charge of fighting off Britain's worst recession for 30 years. In the latest of weeks of revelations about lawmakers' expenses, Daily Telegraph newspaper reported that Darling claimed on two properties at the same time, a breach of parliamentary rules.
Darling said he would repay 350 pounds (495 dollars, 345 euros) but insisted he had made a mistake, and had not been trying to make a financial gain. "I'm sorry about that, I unreservedly apologise," he told Sky News television. "It shouldn't have happened, but I think it's right that money should be repaid because I do not want to gain from that."
Asked whether he would lose his job in the cabinet reshuffle, Darling said: "It's up to the prime minister, he's got to decide the team he wants in the next government and that's entirely a matter for him."
Brown, who has repeatedly voiced confidence in Darling, declined Monday to confirm whether he would remain in his job. "I am not going to make any predictions about anything that is going to happen in the next week," he said. Britain's third parliamentary party, the centrist Liberal Democrats, have demanded Darling quit over the row.
"I think the chancellor is in a very difficult position because he is the guardian of our money. We have to trust the chancellor to be able to look after our money properly," Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg said Monday. The Daily Telegraph said Darling claimed 1,004 pounds in service charges for a flat in London for the six months ending December 2007.
He moved out in September, let out the flat, and began claiming expenses for a flat at 11 Downing Street, according to the newspaper. The expenses furore, which has shown how lawmakers claimed from the public purse for everything from moat cleaning to a duck island, has enraged the public ahead of a general election due by June 2010.
Darling also came under fire last week when the Telegraph alleged he was among nine senior government figures to have claimed a total of 11,000 pounds (12,500 euros, 17,500 dollars) for accountants to fill in their tax returns. Although most Britons filling in tax returns are not allowed to claim back accountants' fees against tax, the claims were thought to be within parliamentary rules. Darling insisted at the time he had done nothing wrong.
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