Tory MP stands down in expenses row
Updated on 23 May 2009
Andrew MacKay is stepping down as a Conservative MP after being jeered by voters at a constituency meeting last night. Jane Deith reports.
They were angry that he and his wife Julie Kirkbride MP had managed to get both their houses paid for as second homes.
MacKay tried to hold on but after his barracking at the meeting was shown on TV it was all over.
After a phone call with David Cameron the Bracknell MP said he would step down at the next election.
Only two weeks ago Andrew MacKay was David Cameron's parliamentary aide with a bright future ahead of him but tonight his career is ruined.
But what of his wife Julie Kirkbride, the MP for Bromsgrove, who also used the system to get both their homes paid for by the taxpayer?
As public anger forces out another Tory MP, it is a fearful lesson for all the other Tory MPs with dodgy expenses who have been ordered by their leader to face their voters.
Another who is on his way out Sir Peter Viggers - said he felt "ashamed and humiliated" over that duck house claim and revealed the ducks did not even like it.
As more MPs were exposed and vilified the Archbishop of Canterbury warned their systematic humiliation was now a threat to democracy.
And some voters were demonstrating in Westminister today - with plenty of appetite it seems to keep cutting MPs down to size.
Krishnan Guru-Murthy talks to communities minister, Sadiq Khan about the expenses scandal.
Well MPs up and down the country have been facing the wrath of their constituents this weekend, as many organised special surgeries to face the public.
One of the most unpopular with party activists is the North Wiltshire MP James Gray - he comes top of a list of members Tory activists most want to deselect.
Sarah Smith has been down to his constituency to test the public mood.
