Justice Minister Malik quits over expenses row

Shahid Malik, the Pakistani-origin Justice Minister was on Friday forced to quit the Gordon Brown Cabinet pending the outcome of an inquiry into his parliamentary expenses claims.

Mr. Malik, the first Muslim Minister in UK government, is the first government member to be forced to quit over the expenses row, which has rocked all three main parties over the last week. His decision to step down came just two hours after the Justice Minister stunned Westminster with a strong defence of his 66,000 pounds claims.

He dismissed revelations that he splurged taxpayers' money on a home cinema and massage chair as a "non story".

In a TV interview, Mr. Malik said he could "sleep easy" after "legitimate" spending on a 2,100 pounds TV and other luxuries.

But, barely two hours later, Downing Street announced the first major scalp of the expenses scandal.