Conservative leader David Cameron has expelled backbench MP Derek Conway from the parliamentary party, making it all but certain that the former minister will be barred from standing as a Tory candidate in the next general election.
Mr Cameron's withdrawal of the Tory whip followed a highly critical report which condemned Mr Conway's use of parliamentary allowances to pay his son Freddie more than £40,000.
The move came amid demands for a police fraud inquiry and calls for a fresh sleaze inquiry into claims that the Old Bexley and Sidcup MP also handed thousands of pounds to his older son, Henry, for little apparent work.
Mr Conway's use of public funds to pay his younger son as a parliamentary researcher when he was a full-time student hundreds of miles away in Newcastle was branded "unacceptable" by Mr Cameron.
While he did not rule out restoring the whip in time for the election expected next year, he said Mr Conway had "an awful lot of road to make up" if he is to return to the party fold.
The BBC reported Mr Conway as saying he had no quarrel with the leader's "understandable if not inevitable" decision which effectively ends his career at Westminster.
Labour accused the Tory leader of "flip-flopping" after he initially said it was for the House of Commons to punish Mr Conway - one of the longest-serving Tory MPs and a close ally of shadow home secretary David Davis.
"He must have known for weeks and months the seriousness of the issues surrounding the case of Derek Conway and his misuse of taxpayers' money but when it came for action yesterday, he flunked it, reportedly under pressure from David Davis and other shadow cabinet colleagues," said Labour MP John Mann.
"Now 24 hours and a few bad headlines later, David Cameron has flip-flopped and decided to ditch Derek Conway after all. He has not sacked Derek Conway on a point of principle, but only because he has become a PR problem."
Mr Cameron denied that he dithered over Mr Conway, saying: "I have made a very clear decision that this is obviously not acceptable conduct. Normally these things are dealt with by the House of Commons but, having reflected on it, I have judged that is not enough and that is why I have withdrawn the whip."

his misuse of taxpayers money