Cameron: Tory MPs must pay up on expenses

LONDON, Oct. 13 (UPI) -- British Conservative Party leader David Cameron says Tory MPs must pay back dodgy expense claims or they may be barred from running for re-election.

With complaints mounting that demands for expense claim repayments by independent auditor Thomas Legg are unfair, Cameron hit back Monday, telling Britain's GMTV that those Tory MPs who won't pay up could be "deselected" as Tory candidates, The Times of London reported.

"In the end, if people are asked to pay back money and if the authorities determine that money should be paid back and they don't pay it back, in my view, they can't stand as Conservative MPs, that is the minimum point, ..." Cameron told the broadcaster. "At the end of the process, MPs have to pay back the money they are asked to by the authorities. To me, that is the least we can do to try and sort out these problems of the past before going on to the future."

The Times said Legg, a retired civil servant, as proven to be unexpectedly aggressive in ferreting out questionable expense claims for second homes, the revelations of which caused a political scandal this year.