PM's cautious backing for Darling
Updated on 01 June 2009
Prime Minister Gordon Brown describes Alistair Darling as a "great chancellor" after the latest expenses allegations, but stops short of confirming whether he will keep his job.
The chancellor has come under pressure after the Daily Telegraph alleged that he claimed the second-home allowance on two properties at the same time, adding to speculation over the weekend that he would move out of the Treasury in a cabinet reshuffle.
When asked about Darling's future as chancellor, Brown said: "People will look at the facts and they will find the answers. But he has been very clear about his denial of these allegations.
"Alistair has been a great chancellor, and we have been working through this recession together. We've made some very big and difficult decisions, but I think we've got to look at the facts and once the facts are investigated as they will be, then lets get the right results."
The Prime Minister spoke after meeting concentration camp survivors and war veterans at the Daily Mirror's anti-BNP Hope Not Hate campaign bus on the South Bank in central London. He used the event to criticise the British National Party for its "policies of discrimination".
The Daily Telegraph said that in July 2007, 10 days after becoming Chancellor, Darling submitted a £1,004 claim for services charge on his south London flat up to December of that year.
During that period he had moved into Downing Street and begun renting out the flat, the newspaper said.
But a spokesman for Mr Darling said: "The allegation of double claiming is simply untrue. He paid the bills due for his flat until he moved out in Sept 2007 after which he made no further claims for it."
