U.K. expense scandal whistleblower defends actions

LONDON -- A former SAS officer said Friday he acted as a middleman to help leak details of British lawmakers' expenses bills to a newspaper, sparking a scandal that has ousted the speaker of the House of Commons speaker and ruined the reputations of scores of legislators.

John Wick, now a private security consultant, said he helped release details of 2 million receipts for expenses claims into the public domain by offering the information to British newspapers.

For the past 15 days, newspaper stories have detailed lawmakers' claims for items ranging from moat cleaning to floating duck houses, chandelier installation and toilet seats.

Angered by the revelations, many Britons have demanded an early national election, which would allow them to kick out lawmakers who have abused the allowances system.

Wick told Britain's Daily Telegraph, the newspaper that acquired the information from him and has published details of lawmakers' claims for the last 16 days, that he had acted in the public interest by disclosing the previously confidential data.

"Parliament will be a better place, society will be a better place," Wick told the newspaper, in a video posted on its website.

Most details of the expenses are due to be published in July following a court ruling based on Britain's freedom of information law. The information leaked by Wick was from files being prepared by lawmakers and Parliamentary authorities for release.

Wick said he was a supporter of the main opposition Conservative Party, but said few lawmakers were pleased with his actions. "I'm definitely not on people's Christmas card list, but it had to be done," he said.

The former Army officer said he had acted as a middleman for a second person, who had contacted him in March and had a hard drive containing details of the expenses claims. Wick said he was told the data was not stolen, but was an unregistered copy of the receipts that his source had acquired.

He did not identify the source of the data in the interview, or specify whether he was paid for the information by the Daily Telegraph.

An ICM poll for The Guardian newspaper, published Friday, found that 66 percent of the public now want an election before the end of 2009 to allow them to elect a new Parliament. ICM interviewed 1,010 adults by telephone May 20 and May 21. No margin of error was given, but in samples of a similar size it is typically plus or minus 3 percent.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown is required by law to call an election by mid-2010.

Lawmakers and others have expressed concern that continued revelations about expenses abuses threaten to seriously damage Britain's political system.

"Many will now be wondering whether the point has not been adequately made: the continuing systematic humiliation of politicians itself threatens to carry a heavy price in terms of our ability to salvage some confidence in our democracy," said the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams.

Conservative legislator Nadine Dorries claimed there could be potential suicides among members of Parliament.

"I think people are seriously beginning to crack," she told BBC Radio. "There is real serious concern that this has gotten to the point now which is almost unbearable for any human being to deal with."

The Conservative Party later criticized her stance, and said in a statement that her comments were made without its "authorization or support."

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Associated Press Writers David Stringer and Jennifer Quinn in London contributed to this report