'HERE'S HOW ASSEMBLY COULD BE CLEANED UP'.

Byline: David Williamson

TORY AM Jonathan Morgan has unveiled proposals to clean up politics in Cardiff Bay.

The Cardiff North AM's plans will be seen by many as an attack on his party's Assembly leader Nick Bourne.

And sources in the Conservative Party last night said Mr Morgan, who recently left the shadow cabinet, was positioning himself as a potential leader of the group.

Mr Morgan has accused his party of not doing enough to reform the expenses system and has called for regular checks on AMs' finances by the Auditor General.

It was revealed in December that Mr Bourne and fellow Tory AM Alun Cairns claimed for iPods on Assembly expenses. Both men reimbursed the Assembly and made donations to charity.

Mr Bourne had also claimed for a trouser press.

In the text of a speech he was due to give to Conservative activists in Cardiff last night, he said: "Politicians who have claimed inappropriately or illegitimately, whether it be phantom mortgages, iPods, plasma televisions, trouser presses or duck islands for their ponds, have proven their judgement has been flawed and they have lost the moral, ethical and political capacity to show leadership."

Mr Morgan states the party did not go as far as he wanted to clamp down on inappropriate expenses.

He said: "I felt it was necessary for political parties in Wales to tackle this head on and bring forward immediate proposals for stronger regulation. However, our reluctance to show strong leadership and direction as Welsh politicians was a missed opportunity."

He said the events of the past six months featured "appalling behaviour" that left him "truly ashamed of my profession".

Mr Morgan is a former Shadow Health Minister who returned to the backbenches in February when he turned downMrBourne's offer ofanotherpost in a reshuffle. He demands a series of reforms including: A ban on AMs claiming for meals in Cardiff Bay. He argues: "The rationale here is that those members entitled to a second home should not expect additional money to fill a fridge already paid for by the taxpayer which sits in a property subsidised by the taxpayer." An investigation of AMs' accounts by the Auditor General at the end of this financial year with the prospect of more checks in the future.

A ban on AMs using public funds to purchase property. The second home allowance would be replaced with a renting allowance for AMs who live far outside Cardiff.

It has recently been revealed that several AMs have claimed up to pounds 3,500 a year on food while they have been in Cardiff Bay under their additional costs allowance. The Taxpayers' Alliance described the spending on food bills as "utterly unreasonable".

A Welsh Conservative Party spokesman said: "Jonathan is right to recognise that the public is angry about the issue of politicians' expenses. As a party we share that view. That is why David Cameron has taken the lead in starting to rebuild trust in politics and why in the Assembly our members have agreed to new internal rules on allowances claims."

Mr Morgan believes Assembly Government policies such as free prescriptions have created an "addiction to handouts". He said: "Some may feel they have really benefited from Labour's budget bonanza but the reality is we have seen no tangible benefits for years of increased funding."

A Conservative colleague said: "You've got to ask yourself, what's the point of having a centre-right party if it's not to remind ourselves how disciplined we have to be in terms of public spending... Perhaps we have not engaged with that argument vigorously enough and perhaps Jonathan is beginning to say, 'If I was leader, I would.'"