Caroline Flint launches 'stiletto in the heart' of Gordon Brown

After being snubbed for a promotion, Caroline Flint, the Europe Minister, delivered the most personal attack yet on the beleaguered Prime Minister, accusing him of using her as "female window dressing" and of operating a "two-tier Government".

In a move designed to maximise the damage to Mr Brown, she announced she was quitting his Government just as he faced the cameras to insist he would not walk away from Downing Street following Labour's worst performance at the polls in 30 years.

Less than 24 hours earlier, she had taken to the airwaves to support his leadership in the wake of the shock resignation of James Purnell, the Work and Pensions Secretary, and his demand that the Prime Minister go for the good of the party.

But her departure was just one of a series of ministerial walk-outs which undermined Mr Brown's hurried attempt to reshape his Government and relaunch his premiership.

Geoff Hoon, John Hutton, Paul Murphy, Margaret Beckett and Tony McNulty have all quit the Government.

They followed Jacqui Smith, Hazel Blears, Mr Purnell and Beverley Hughes out of the exit door.

Mr Brown was forced to retreat from his plan to sack Alistair Darling, the Chancellor, instead keeping him and Foreign Secretary David Miliband in their posts, promoting leadership rival Alan Johnson to the Home Office and effectively making Peter Mandelson deputy Prime Minister.

Miss Flint's resignation came after a stormy meeting at Downing Street.

She issued a savage resignation letter personally attacking Mr Brown's style of Government and the overwhelming pre-eminence of men.

"You have a two-tier Government, your inner circle and then the remainder of Cabinet," she said.

"Several of the women attending Cabinet – myself included – have been treated by you as little more than female window dressing."

Caroline Flint

The £14,553 bill for the apartment in Victoria, central London, was accepted without question by the fees office.

Before purchasing her London flat, Miss Flint — who was housing minister before being demoted to Minister for Europe last year — registered her house in Sprotbrough, near her constituency of Don Valley, as her second home, for which she claimed expenses.

In 2005, however, she sold the house in Twickenham, south London that until then she had registered as her main home, and declared Sprotbrough her principal residence.

For about eight months during 2005-06, the minister stayed for an average of three nights a week in a variety of central London hotels, with the taxpayer picking up the bill for between £75 and £120 a night.

She also claimed for the £177-a-month cost of putting her furniture in storage, before purchasing the £425,000 Victoria apartment, a 10-minute walk from the House of Commons, and making it her second home.

The new mortgage, which was registered in the name of Miss Flint and her husband Phil Cole, cost significantly more than that on the Sprotbrough house, taking her expenses claims from £727 to £1,165 a month.

She also began to claim £3,668 a year for ground rent and service charges.

In addition to the £12,750 of stamp duty she claimed on allowances, she also applied for more than £1,000 in solicitors’ expenses, and the costs of searches and land registry fees.

In a statement, Miss Flint said yesterday: “At each stage I sought advice from the House of Commons, and never sought to make personal gains from public funds.

“In 2005 I sold the outer London home I owned before becoming an MP and I paid capital gains tax on that sale. In 2006 I bought a flat close to Westminster, contributing a substantial amount towards the cost of that flat from the proceeds of the previous sale. As a result, only about half of the cost of that flat is met through public funds.”