In the latest set of leaked claims made by MPs, the Sunday Telegraph reported that lawmakers with the republican Sinn Fein party in Northern Ireland claimed nearly 500,000 pounds (560,000 euros, 750,000 dollars) for running a second home, despite never taking up their seats in the House of Commons.
While all MPs have acted within parliamentary rules, the revelations of expenses claims ranging from chocolate to a sack of horse manure have sparked fury in Britain's media, who have heaped criticism on Brown and his government for not reforming the rules sooner.
A new opinion poll published Sunday, meanwhile, put backing for Labour at just 23 percent, the lowest rating the party has recorded since such surveys were first carried out in 1943.
The BPIX survey of 2,246 people between May 7 and 9 for the Mail on Sunday put the ruling party a whopping 22 points behind the main opposition Conservatives, with a general election due by mid-2010.
A separate ICM poll for the News of the World weekly showed that more than two thirds of Britons thought the expenses scandal had directly hurt Brown, while 89 percent said the reputation of MPs had been damaged.
The tabloid went as far as to advertise a promotion that paid for a lucky reader's bills, expenses and mortgage payments as a "Live Free Like an MP for a Year" deal.
George Carey, the former leader of the Anglican Communion, meanwhile slammed politicians in general, writing in the News of the World that the "moral authority of parliament is at its lowest ebb in living memory."
The Mail on Sunday chimed in, calling for parliament to dissolve itself, saying in an editorial that "so many members of the House of Commons have disgraced themselves so completely that their right to make laws for the rest of us has evaporated."
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