Brown and Cameron move apart over expenses reform

A clear divide is opening between Gordon Brown and David Cameron on whether Sir Christopher Kelly's sweeping reforms on expenses should be watered down.

The Prime Minister, under huge pressure from angry backbenchers, sent a comforting signal to critics of the Kelly proposals by warning that changes must not make Parliament the preserve of the rich.

Mr Brown was in talks with Sir Christopher this morning ahead of Wednesday's report. It will axe claims for mortgage interest and ban MPs from employing family members at public expense.

However, the Kelly report has already gone to the printers, which means Mr Brown's comments come too late to influence its contents. Instead, they seemed more designed to placate backbenchers who are demanding that some of the proposals be blocked.

A source close to Mr Cameron said that he was against watering down the Kelly reforms "unless his report turned out to cost a great deal of extra public money or unless his proposals were completely bonkers". Mr Cameron will take a final position on the proposals after they have been published.

Suspicions the Government is willing to dilute the reforms have grown after ministers told MPs the package will be sent to a new Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority. Ministers have told MPs their concerns, including curbs on second homes and employment of wives, will be reconsidered.

The overseeing committee of IPSA is itself overseen by a committee of senior MPs, putting a question over its independence. These MPs include Doug Touhig, a Labour MP who employs his wife and led successful attempts to thwart reforms of the system last year.

A senior insider also pointed out that IPSA would not be ready to carry out its work until well into next year. He said: "It will be New Year before IPSA is established and April before it is up and running. You may well see these proposals go into the long grass until after the general election." This would remove some of the greatest pressure for wholehearted reforms of the system, possibly emboldening MPs to take a stand.

A Downing Street source said Mr Brown would tell Sir Christopher that "ordinary people with families must always be able to become MPs". "He feels MPs have been let down by a bad system and some bad apples," the source said.